Language in the NHS, again

[JellySaurus]

Even pandering to the women-erasers, they still can't get the ideological language right. 'Persons of childbearing age', but 'breastfeeding'.

Could it be because this ideology is so obviously nonsensical? Could it be because the writer recognised that it's actually important for patients to be able to understand what they are being asked?

This is the form that my relative had to fill out before having an MRI.

I’m guessing they couldn’t put women because a 12 year old isn’t a woman but they could still be pregnant.

No, it says person as all people aged 11-55 have to be asked about pregnancy as patients are not recorded by their biological sex 🙄

There was a case in America where a transgender female had a CT scan not knowing she was pregnant, she was on Testosterone treatment.

Since them we are not assume that the burly bloke in front of you who is registered as male actually is biologically male and have to question their pregnancy status.

I cannot believe that we do not record patients by both sex and gender, it’s only gender that is recognised.

I have looked after transwomen registered as female who blood results are recorded using the reference range for females meaning that a potential anaemia could be missed.

Don’t get me started on the Same Sex Accommodation guidelines that reference sex throughout but actually mean gender.😤

I'm impressed it used the term breastfeeding considering everything

It must be an old form as it says 12-55 and it’s 11-55 now.

Latest guidelines refer to chest/breastfeeding.

https://www.sor.org/getmedia/1d256f96-40cb-4eeb-b120-90fe27daf7e9/Inclusive-Pregnancy-Status-Guidelines-for-Ionising-Radiation_LLv2

It's quicker and cheaper to have one form they give to everyone than having to make a form for men and a form for women. Presumably the men will just tick no.

To be fair that's not too bad. If you take a look at the Society of Radiographer's Inclusive Pregnancy Guidelines you can see how totally captured they are and many hospitals are coming up with completely ridiculous guidelines and paperwork.
This one simply requires a tick if you are a person of childbearing age.
Though I suppose they might potentially consider a 30 year old man as a person of childbearing age 🤷‍♀️
My department set up a working group to consider changing our paperwork. About 20 people including me were on the group. We had two meetings then our manager decided to shelve it awaiting further advice from HR. I had hoped she had noticed some of the bad press that has been around as a result of men being asked if they could be pregnant but I think she just couldn't deal with it, especially with such a big group. Of course she deferred to the hospital LGBTQ representative, an HCA who rarely puts in a hard shift in his department being far more busy putting up rainbow bunting around the hospital and posting on the hospital intranet about pride month. The hospital is ramping up its rainbow credentials so I am fully expecting something ridiculous to be imposed from above without further discussion.

https://www.sor.org/learning-advice/professional-body-guidance-and-publications/documents-and-publications/policy-guidance-document-library/inclusive-pregnancy-status-guidelines-for-ionisingg_

Whilst radiographers do need to be mindful of the risks should a woman be pregnant or unknowingly pregnant their questioning of actual women is pretty demeaning at times frankly.
Women with gynaecological cancer who have had full hysterectomy and oophorectomy and are clearly in advanced stage of disease still get asked. Most roll their eyes and resignedly answer they haven't got a uterus any more. But it's bloody insensitive frankly. We did discuss this at the meetings. Apparently the radiology computer software systems can't manage to include an alert for women who have had a hysterectomy. Not just my hospital. This is an NHS wide problem as far as I remember from the discussion which did get quite heated on this particular issue.

Also, when you tick the box saying you aren't pregnant that's not good enough. They want to know WHY you can't be pregnant.
I've watched a newly qualified young male radiographer interrogate a woman about her periods and contraception. FFS. We spend half our adult lives avoiding pregnancy and for the most part know if we might be pregnant. Yes I know some women make mistakes etc. But our form includes potential tick boxes for not having PIV sex (sorry I can't remember the precise wording) etc, post menopausal and all the other reasons a woman might know she's not pregnant.
Honestly I'd be so pissed off to have to go through that with some idiot bloke half my age. "I know I'm not pregnant"...."Well I'll be the judge of that".

Then why isn't the question:

11. Women and girls aged 12-55 years old: are you or might you be pregnant?

After all, they use clear and accurate terminology in the subsequent question that only applies to women and girls. They ask about breastfeeding, not 'chestfeeding'.

Dear God, what worrying twaddle is in that document. Worrying precisely because it is twaddle.

^There is currently a lack of gender identity and VSC/intersex monitoring for
TNBI individuals, both through the Office of National Statistics/census data and in the NHS15). This presents a challenge to healthcare professionals trying to serve their specific needs and minimise the risk of incidents and misdiagnoses.^

No shit, Sherlock. Solution: let’s muddy the waters even further by pretending, in our interactions with patients, that sex does not exist. Oh, hang on - isn’t that why there is a lack of data?

^It is not the job of a trans, non-binary or VSC/
intersex patient to educate healthcare professionals on how this relates to their
healthcare.^

Yes, it is. If you have a belief system that may affect your health care it is your job to inform your HCPs about it. Just as a Jehova’s Witness needs to spell it out if she will reject blood transfusion, or an Orthodox Jew needs to specify if she will refuse to have an elective procedure on Saturday.

^When we consider gender identity, it is important to appreciate that there is a broad scope for what is considered non-binary. Effectively, any point in the gender triangle that is not exclusively male or female might be considered in this way. For that reason, it is important to enable patients to self-identify and not to make assumptions.
A person might be agender, whereby they do not have a gender identity, or they might experience their gender in varying intensities, indicated by the levels radiating from the centre of the model. Another might be exclusively third gender, such as a two-spirit person. Others might feel somewhere in between these labels, and this is entirely okay. It might help to share this model with them to visually identity their gender identity if they lack the words to do so.^

Other than as my earlier comment, how is the patient’s belief system relevant to radiography? Are there equivalent guidelines on how to support patients in identifying their religious beliefs? Why not?

I too was on a working group trying to analyse how to put those godawful guidelines into practice. 😫

We now have to ask every man agreed between 11-55 going for surgery if they are pregnant 🙄