Fantastic news. Though there will be a lot more to do to really root this out of the NHS.
I have been looking at
University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Trust report. (Includes BRI & Bristol Royal Hospital for Children)
They scored Initial Stage 44/164.** (Ie failed to be accredited).
The recommendation to replace the term "gender reassignment" with "trans status" is a common recommendation in many of the trusts who took part in the programme. Stonewall law replacing the actual law.
“We highly recommend replacing the term “gender reassignment” with “trans status”, as this is a more inclusive of non-binary people as well as being more commonly
used and less medicalised. “trans status” can also be used instead of “gender identity” for more clarification as to who is protected by this term.”
Maternity/Paternity leave policies:
“The policy also refers to “mothers” without expanding to include gender neutral/inclusive terms.”*
*
Adoption leave policy:
“The policy also refers to “women” without expanding to include gender neutral/inclusive terms and only uses he/she pronouns throughout.”
The staff comments show just what staff are up against as they try to get on with their work, treading on eggshells incase they say the wrong thing and offend someone special.
*
Staff Comments:
*
“Maybe staff could benefit from transgender training as it can be difficult caring for a patient
who has not yet transitioned, (eg; male to female but being nursed in a female bay where
other patients may comment).”
“More posters of same sex couples in maternity.”
“Working in maternity it is easy to assume all birth givers identify as female yet in my
employment here we have had several nonbinary birth givers. It can be confusing for staff
that are unfamiliar with LGBTQIA+ people, so maternity resources would be extremely
beneficial (St Michael's Hospital). In such a fragile and vulnerable state it is really important
for people to be correctly gendered so they can trust us and feel safe.”
“I think looking at transgender issues should be separate to sexual orientation issues. Both
are important, but there are practical issues around transgender healthcare, such as
placement on single sex wards that is not clear for staff - I have no idea what information
transgender patient are given about this. Non-binary is another separate issue- again, how
does this impact on mixed-sex wards etc?* I have experience of a patient changing genders
on a daily basis- it would be completely impractical to move this person between a male and female ward on a ongoing basis.* Ultimately, clinical staff are expected to be non-judgemental and provide the best possible healthcare to everyone, so this should be the trust expectation regardless of how someone identifies.”
“Using incorrect terms such as gender for babies instead of sex assigned at birth - gender is something a person identifies. This is across the system.” 🙄
Someone needs to tell them that sex isn't assigned at birth either.🤦♀️