Annex b

[cheshirecatssmile]

I've joined forces with @no2annexb on Twitter.
Annex b in a nut shell is the nhs ridding single sex wards and making them mixed sex.
A huge safeguarding issue.
Information about it can be found on the web, I'm on the app and struggling to add link.

Under annex b a trans woman can be placed on a female ward without a grc and staff can't stop it
Under annex b a non binary can choose male or female ward and staff can't stop it.
How we are expected to treat out patients by gender ie how they present not by genitals .
Safeguarding

I did a speech about this last Sunday at Birmingham LWS
I now have 200 posts cards to send!

So to get involved as some people have asked me.

DM me your reasons why you want or think the nhs should scrap annex b , safeguarding etc
It's totally anonymous.
I then post to nhs England on your behalf.
So far nearly 6500 have been sent.

I will let you know when been posted.
Please spread the word.

Thanks for sharing this and for raising this issue. Seems like they were hoping to get it passed by stealth.

Get it passed,@Croneofakind? I thought it was already in force.

@cheshirecatssmile: do we tell you who we'd like it sent to or do we leave that in your hands?

Annex B had been in place for over a decade - since the 'single sex wards' legislation in 2011, @Croneofakind (but it did indeed arrive by stealth - as the name suggests it was tucked away in the appendices).

If anyone want to read it, and pick out specific quotes for their letters the current version (2019 updae of the original) is www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/05/NEW-Delivering_same_sex_accommodation_sep2019.pdf

@Rightsraptor the post cards are pre printed with nhs England address
But if you want the card sending to a certain person ie Keir starma etc let me know

The notable thing about annex B is that it is entirely about the choice, privacy and dignity of the trans patient (including prioritising the preference of non-Gillick-competent children over that of their parents). Not a single word - literally, not 1 - about the preferences, dignity, privacy or safety of the other patients they are placed with. No balance of rights.

Thank you, @cheshirecatssmile - how frankly sneaky of the NHS and the politicians involved in its oversight.

I shall be writing to the CEO and the Chairperson of my Hospitals Trust asking them to justify the legality of this under the Equality Act 2010.

As @BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn says, 'Not a single word - literally, not 1 - about the preferences, dignity, privacy or safety of the other patients they are placed with. No balance of rights.'

Sounds like a breach of the public sector equality duty to me.

Could we start a petition as well to get this debated?
Thank you Op for standing up on this and taking action.

The acceptance, apparently without question, that the EA allows "gender reassignment" to include the mere intention to transition, is surely stretching the law somewhat. What do legal experts say?

As an ex-NHS governance lead, I'm horrified by this sneaky stuff. Ruth May, eh?

This is Section 7 of the Equality Act 2010

Gender reassignment(1) A person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex.

(2) A reference to a transsexual person is a reference to a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

(3) In relation to the protected characteristic of gender reassignment—

(a) a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a transsexual person;

(b) a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to transsexual persons.

The 'interpretation' of this ^^ had been widened so as to become meaningless. Unfortunately for women and girls.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/7

That 'proposing to undergo' is the bit that widens it to the point of being utterly meaningless.

reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex

And this ^^

Just meaningless drivel

Honestly, sometimes I just think we're fucked.

Thank you @cheshirecatssmile I'll DM over the weekend. There's so much wrong with Annnex B I hardly know where to start 😮

This is the address , seems Dane Ruth may has a full in tray.
First 12 are being posted today

I met Ruth many times when our hospitals were inspected as part of the Keogh review, about 2011/12. She struck me as a very smart person with a determination to follow her own agenda or one that had been set for her.

Where does Annex B create a political or career risk for her?Because that is what I'd expect her to be sensitive to. Mass alienation of women, publically shared, might help. And she is still a nurse: patient voices must matter to her, surely?

@angelico53

Where does Annex B create a political or career risk for her?Because that is what I'd expect her to be sensitive to. Mass alienation of women, publically shared, might help. And she is still a nurse: patient voices must matter to her, surely?

May I put that on a post card? It's anonymous

Edited of course

The gender reassignment protected characteristic rightly protects people who say they are going to transition so that they cannot be discriminated against for having said this.

The problem is that Stonewall interpretation of the law says that not only does having the protected characteristic entitle you to protection from discrimination on the basis of having that characteristic, but it also entitles you to be regarded as the opposite sex for the purposes of benefiting from single sex exceptions to the Equality Act (the exceptions that allow discrimination on the grounds of sex in certain circumstances, such as toilets and sport). There are lots of flaws in this analysis and it is seriously ill thought through in terms of consequences, but that is what they try to argue.

Thanks for the clarification @cheshirecatssmile. I'll ponder my message and let you know, ASAP.

Annex B is what I'd expect from the direct unedited input from a pressure group. It's not appropriate as guidance. It isn't balanced, it doesn't fit the rest of the policy, and it doesn't consider how it impacts on other patient's rights to safety, privacy or dignity. No-one has looked at it and said "OK, how does this fit in with the rest of the document and how does it fit in with what single-sex wards are supposed to achieve".

Annex A lists occasions when a breach of the single sex policy may be justified. I can imagine some occasions when gender reassignment might result in one of those justifications. But that should be recorded as a breach of the single-sex policy. so that there's an end to the current fiction that everyone on the women's ward is a woman if sometimes they are not, even if it's for good reasons, and the policy should give much more consideration to where it is and is not acceptable to allow that breach. Annex B as it is currently written says that any patient who says they are transgender can choose which ward they want to be on and that is not a breach of the policy.

From tomorrow I've a very busy week.
Daughter is being induced and I'm her birthing partner.

First lot of cards are posted but please keep sending the DMs

Bumping this thread
I had it moved to chat from FWR chat so more people are aware
Please dm me your thoughts on this and I will send a postcard to nhs England or whoever you want it sending to!

Thanks so much for highlighting this OP.

Morning
Just a little bump as my dms have slowed down.

Women are saying no to annex b
The nhs are giving more right to single sex areas on hospital wards at the detriment to the safety of women and children.
These are basic safeguards
There have been reports of thousands of sexual assaults and rapes on hospital wards and in other healthcare settings.

A woman who was told she couldn't of been raped as no males on the ward.
This is our future, without sounding dramatic if we don't use our voices.

Dm me your thoughts regarding annex b
I will write down on to the postcards I have and will send them to nhs England or a politician of your choice.
Over 7000 have already been sent.
That's 7000 women who have voiced concerns regarding this policy.