Leading for all: supporting trans and non-binary healthcare staff

[PronounsBaby]

https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/leading-all-supporting-trans-and-non-binary-healthcare-staff

Supporting leaders to understand the needs of trans and non-binary colleagues so they can perform their duties and provide high-quality allyship.

this report has been released today. It's a collaboration between LGBT FOUNDATION and NHS confederation.

Peter Molyneux (Sussex partnership chair and NHS confederation LGBTQ+ network chair) lead a seminar today introducing this new report with 4 non binary and trans speakers who interestingly we all pretty young (under 30 I imagine), white and 2/3 were male.

There was much talk about the importance of calling out transphobia. How to spot and call out dog whistles and what a difficult world trans people live in. No mention of what transphobia actually is though but lots of emphasis on misgendering.

There was mention of being on the right side of history, how difficult it is for trans n NB people especially at the moment and how exhausting it is to be constantly educating people.

How it so important that children going through the hospital environment are included in all, that trans people are as visible as possible to them and they are given opportunity to use their preferred pronouns and names, even on their paperwork.

How pleased they are with maternity policy which is completely gender neutral. I wanted to ask what happens for women who identify as women and mothers but was too worried I'd be told that was transphobic.

The whole call was so devoid of any critical thought, and it was so weird to sit through it with such pawing comments from other NHS leaders.

I wanted to ask questions but really felt this is not being an ally. You must just accept what you are being told with no question or criticism. It was genuinely uncomfortable to be a part of when I do genuinely want to understand it all better.

It's being picked apart much more eloquently on twitter here (and I'm sure many other places) https://twitter.com/Mariel63473494/status/1666114125015941122?t=sidRttfgr6zFs26sEHoyvg&s=19

Sorry you had to sit through that presentation without being able to comment, it must have been so frustrating.

Have you seen the @ legalfeminist twitter thread on the new report. They start by saying it's a "legally illiterate document".

https://twitter.com/legalfeminist/status/1666199916153036816?s=20

I think it's outrageous that a lobby group can be commissioned to create a policy document like this and there be no kind of impact assessment or consideration of al the staff and patients negatively affected.

I really hope this gets challenged legally.

The only female on the call used to work for nhse and mentioned that it should be ok and we should be encouraging people to change their sex marker on their GP record to their preferred gender identity.

She they mentioned how unfortunately, even though it is the box is called gender (but options are male/female) it is routinely used as a their biological sex for investigations and tests. So if you get called for your cervical screening or not is pulled from that data, what parameters blood and urine tests are set against are pulled from which option your choose.

Knowing this, they still recommend it is changed to gender identity rather then keeping it as the patient realistic biological sex!

I just don't understand the logic. Feeling are supposedly much more important than accurate testing or data recording!

There was a time when medicine was going to be much more personalised in the sense that medicine doses would be worked out according to your height weight and sex instead of the usual current method of rough age group. But if you can just change your data according to feeling all this is jeopardised surely?

Bit of a rant, sorry but it genuinely keeps me up at night, watching this all play out!

@GreenUp yes I've seen that thread. It does give hope that people are speaking up, but it's so absurd that it has to be anonymously on the internet!

What a world we are currently living in! I think I need some strategies to help keep my sanity!

There is nothing more batshit in gender ideology than changing your medical data to align with identify rather than sex. It could put people at serious risk.

That document looks horrifying from what I can see of the Legal Feminist's critique. Too early in the morning to deal with the outrage boiling up in me to read it all.

Getting lobby groups to write policy is like allowing Hells's Angels to police rock concerts: someone will die.

extremely few circumstances in which requests not to be treated or assisted by a trans health care provider (ie a request for same (biological) sex) would be upheld

requirement must be well evidenced and documented

So if you’ve been sexually assaulted, it has to be on your medical records to count. Otherwise we will not believe you.

These claims are breathtaking. It is perfectly clear that the main direction of travel is transwomen — > care for women, although men may well prefer a man and not a transman to provide intimate care.

But to indicate that such requests would be extremely few?! When it is women’s vulnerabilities that are routinely exposed in routine smears, in breast examinations, in maternity care, in labour and delivery, endometriosis, transvaginal scans, menopause and in every and all gynaecology condition.

It is clear that NHS leadership is deeply deeply misogynistic in an extremely disturbing and pathological manner. You will be told. You will do as your told. You will shut up and be silenced. You do not matter compared to our male allies. It’s breathtaking.

It was taken from a survey of 18 trans/NB staff members..... 🙄

How can this be legal. It is clear discrimination by elevating one group above all others. From this it looks like cunty women cannot expect their HCP to be a cunty women unless the have something in their medical records to justify it.

This 'right side of history' business is really beginning to piss me off. You don't get to decide that. You CAN'T decide that because you have no idea what people in the future - when all this IS history, 50, 100, 200 years in the future - will conclude about all this.

I’ve only managed a couple of pages but apparently women are bullied at work on account of their ‘female gender identity’.

And yet, as Michael Foran tweeted a few weeks ago (although he appears to be off twitter now, unfortunately) treatment of a patient is by consent of that patient. Therefore if a patient has requested same sex care and the treatment is carried out by someone of the opposite sex - regardless of gender identity - that is not consensual.

He also posted about what would the motivation be of a HCP who blatantly disregarded the patient's wishes in this regard iirc, but unfortunately the tweet is not available for me to link

Don't forget, if people editing their medical sex based on internal feelings does have medical repercussions, e.g. female patients miss out on a cervical screening... Well that's the fault of transphobic medicine, transphobic healthcare providers, etc. 😇🙄

They can fuck all the way off with this. What is the point of a conservative government that lets this happen on their watch?

The other thing they mentioned was the importance of asking absolutely all patients whether or not they could be pregnant before doing anything that may harm a foetus. Male or female Inc young boys .

If all men actually said it was a possibility, I wonder the impact of having to do all those (actually relatively cheap and quick) unnecessary pregnancy tests would be?

"In total, 118 trans and non-binary people employed in a range of different occupations and professions in the NHS in England replied to the survey. Seven responses were removed due to being from people who did not self-define as trans or non-binary."

So is all this being done to support less than 120 people, bearing in mind that the NHS is Europe's largest employer?

"Seven responses were removed due to being from people who did not self-define as trans or non-binary."

So they made absolutely sure no-one else could have any input. FFS

The 'most marginalised and discriminated against people in society' label doesn't really fit anymore when stuff like this happens.