What my NHS Trust have said about the Supreme Court verdict

[Opinionpolecat]

The NHS Trust I work at sent an e-mail to all staff yesterday talking about the Supreme Court ruling. They stated that the judges have said that “woman” in UK law is based on biological sex. They go on to say that they want to be clear the ruling does not change the fact that everyone is welcome in the Trust and that they are an inclusive organisation. They say everyone deserves respect and understanding including staff, patients and families. They understand that some staff members may feel they need support at this time and recommend the LGBT+ staff network where LGBT+ staff and allies can find support and advice.

It struck me that they think only LGBT+ plus staff and allies will need support and advice, and the reassurance that the trust is such an inclusive organisation. They say nothing about the fact their policies have discriminated against female staff and patients for many years. They don't even admit to it but say this wasn't their fault, it was due to NHS wide guidance and they offer no apology to female staff, patients and their allies about these years of discrimination. They say nothing about the fact that for many years some female staff and patients may not have felt welcome or included within the Trust. Have any other NHS staff had similar messages?

Have they not even clarified they are reviewing/changing policies going forward? Or is it all about soothing hurt feelings?

It’s the same message coming from many organisations and politicians. Women don’t matter basically!

Yes my trust did - but I suspect it is the same Trust from what you have said.

Which trust is this?

You can bank on it that had women not won we would not have had similar messages of support.

May be worth passing a copy to Baroness Faulkner, who said yesterday in an interview they are working with the NHS. It is going to be very difficult to undo the heavy bias, particularly in people trained that to even mention women or consider them was perceived as an act of heresy.

I don’t work for the NHS, but for the equally captured, civil service. I’ve seen nothing so far, but of course the ruling isn’t quite so important as it ought to be in hospitals and medicine.

I guess it’s par for the course (though sad) that the first thoughts for transactivists have invariably been defensive. They have been playing the victim card for so long that it will be difficult to shift out of that mentality.

I find it incredibly frustrating that their first thought wasn’t for patients, who for a long time have been worried about NHS policy regarding single sex spaces, or at least spaces that ought to have been single sex, but they are obviously so blinkered that the real meaning of the judgment doesn’t appear to have crossed their minds.

I fear that, despite the judgment, it is now that we simply have to start fighting again to get the meaning of that decision recognized. The view has become so skewed that those in power have lost sight of the fact that there are two groups affected here and that what one side sees as a loss is of huge significance to the other side, whose rights have been confirmed.

We will get there. It just looks like we are going to have to fight every single step of the way to get our rights back.

Hopefully the outcome in the Fife & Darlington nurses cases will produce some apologies to women.
And when some of the NHS medics are tried and convicted for conducting brutal experimental surgery and drug regimes on young people that have led to their life long & life limiting health problems. Then presumably we'll see some of the NHS's famous non apologies.

They've said NHS England (hasn't that just been abolished?) is reviewing the implications and they'll keep us informed when new guidance becomes availaible.

Hope we'll get rid of the fear of mentioning women in the NHS. Chest feeders and people whose menstruate and all that crap.

Will this happen,who's going to do that

I guess it’s par for the course (though sad) that the first thoughts for transactivists have invariably been defensive. They have been playing the victim card for so long that it will be difficult to shift out of that mentality.

Those at the top of NHS trusts and the like have been thoroughly indoctrinated with EDI policies and the “trans people are the most vulnerable and oppressed” idea will die very hard. As will the need by these people to signal their Correct Think virtue at every turn, it’s almost an instinctive reflex by now.

This is why it’s not over yet, we still have to fight back against the organisations that will try to weasel their way around the clarified law in order to be seen to put trans rights over and above women’s rights.

It's all about maintaining the hostile environment for women to keep complaints about how women's rights have been violated to a minimum. They certainly are not going to admit liability cos £££.

They should be saying "We understand that the ruling has caused distress to some and is an acknowledgement that the rights of others have not always been upheld as they should have within the law. We stress the law has not changed; we remain committed to equality for all and will work with all parties to uphold equality of all staff. If you have any concerns or feel this has affected you in anyway please speak to HR. All concerns will be dealt with discreetly. We understand that this affects a large number of people in different ways. The trust understands that the privacy and dignity of all staff and patients remains paramount. Going forward our focus is on providing high quality standards of care for patients and ensuring all staff feel safe in their work environment. We expect all staff to remain professional and to treat others with respect and be sensitive to all surrounding this subject. We will issue updated guidance as soon as possible".

It should be neutral not dick pandering. It's ok to acknowledge some don't like and need reassurance but equally you need to stress that others have been let down and not had their rights upheld as they should be. And it should stress professionalism and respect but in no particular direction.

This is shutting the gate after the horse has bolted .
There needs to be clear guidelines set down by government for organisations to follow
Otherwise each organisation will do as it pleases.
And so many are under the thumb of the strongest loudest voices

Of course, the NHS is fully aware of the sexual abuse / rape cases / women coerced to sleep alongside men in what should be single sex wards. Any apology to women for all that would be an admission that they've been caught up in this ideology and abandoned their responsibility to safeguard women and girls.
Their lawyers will be very keen to avoid that - as we see in every single NHS medical scandal

Your version on how the statement ought to have been worded is spot on. Really resonates with me.

Absolutely agree. The silence would have been deafening.

I love my social media,I'm on ticktok far to much ,I tend to avoid trans issues as it just winds me up
But since the ruling every second post is by a trans person,bleeting away .
Trans women almost threatening, "saying well let's see how all your husband's like being in the men's toilets with me ,let's see how that goes ,all those men having a party in the men's toilets with me ,see how you like that "...
What the hell is that about

The NHS know exactly how to keep complaints down. They've had years perfecting it.

I remember writing to NHS Trusts about Bounty and them replying they'd never had any complaints. I'd deliberately picked Trusts to contact who MN users had shared particularly bad experiences about or had multiple complaints here.

Their attitude was there wasn't a problem if there wasn't a complaint.

Meanwhile MN was reflecting the opposite. Informal complaints made that were invisible or women who thought it was pointless cos no one would listen to them or because after having had a baby they were emotionally manipulated into just being grateful their baby was ok or were simply too busy with the baby to consider the stress of making a complaint.

Trusts know this problem. They know that women have many reasons why they don't complain. They know how to delegitimise complaints.

MN has literally told them about this pattern on numerous occasions. And yet nothing changes.

So true

Indeed. Any healthcare organisation should centre patients, not staff activists.

This is exactly what they should have said. I've considered replying but I've got bills to pay.

They're just signalling they still don't care about women even when the law tells them they have to.

I am public sector, not NHS. There has been a similar message cascaded down from senior managers.

It acknowledges at least that there will be a rang of reactions to the message. They will wait for central CS to tell them what to do. But in the meantime they reassure us the org’s values remain unchanged and no policies will immediately change.

Not sure what values those are. Currently their values seem to have led to breaking the law and discriminating against women. So, I personally think our values might be a problem.

Threatening to sexually harass men? To get back at women? FFS.

A bit off topic, but does “NHS trust” mean a hospital?