NHS Policy Audit - working party - thread #2

[KnottyAuty]

This is a thread about “keeping the receipts” on NHS Policies prior to the Supreme Court ruling on 16th April 2025.

Our working theory is that there were no single sex spaces for NHS Staff or Patients in the entire country before that date, having all been removed by stealth. We are aiming to prove this by auditing websites and policies for all the UK trusts and using the results to raise public awareness. As well as recording what has happened historically, the information will form a baseline so we can check which Trusts comply or defy the judgement in due course.

We are working around the country region by region. If you fancy getting involved in a bit of grassroots feminism then please do join in to help!? Each trust takes about an hour to research and you can upload online without giving any personal details away. Comment below and we can give you the link to an online survey - it changes for each region.

Thanks soooo much to all the vipers who have helped so far and @ Twoloons for doing a great job with the thread wrangling!

Here are the press articles we’ve managed to generate so far:

Scotland:
25th March: The Telegraph
https://archive.is/dTUhY
26th March: Scottish Daily Express
https://archive.is/kaLCB
26th March: The Telegraph
https://archive.is/iSD9m

London:
21st April: The Telegraph
https://archive.is/awGuz
23rd April: The Telegraph (in conjunction with another thread by NHS mumsnetters)
https://archive.is/1DO8d

Original thread #1 here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5291237-nhs-policy-audit-working-party?page=1

The webinar also links to The Brain Charity website which includes such gems as

'While some anti-trans activists have made the groundless claim that autistic youth are being ‘tricked’ into identifying as transgender or queer, the reality is that being neurodivergent remains a huge barrier to many people receiving the gender-affirming health care they need.'

and

Why are neurodivergent people more likely to be LGBTQIA+?
'No one is really sure why there is such an overlap between the neurodivergent and queer communities, but the predominant theory is that neurodivergent people tend to be less aware of or inclined to follow societal norms.
We live in a binary society where being heterosexual and cisgender is the default, so neurodivergent people may feel freer to express their gender or sexuality without the worry of being judged, or the need to conform to society’s expectations.'

Followed by a bit of forced-teaming:

'Neurodiversity is gender and sexual diversity
If we want greater acceptance of the huge value of neurodivergent individuals, then we also need greater acceptance of non-traditional sexualities and gender identities. We can certainly draw parallels between experiences.'

https://www.thebraincharity.org.uk/lgbtqia-neurodiversity-neurodivergent-lgbtq/

Royal Papworth is done. I am happy to be allocated another but won't get around to it til early next week owing to work commitments.

Fantastic - thank you! If you check back in towards the end of the week I’ll try to post an updated list and you can claim any unclaimed trusts at that point.

I still haven’t found the before and after documents showing when the data collection changed so that wards appeared single sex when they were not. But I’ve got more of the story.

In January 2004, Dept of Health said it had started annual monitoring of compliance with the single sex accommodation promise. I haven’t been able to find any trace of this data collection.

In the same year, the Department of Health set up the Sexual Orientation Advisory Group. Following lobbying by Press for Change, the group was ren-named Sexual Orientation and Gender Advisory Group. Christine Burns, of Press for Change, was appointed as the chair of the transgender workstream in July 2006 (and remained so until May 2010).

On 28 June 2007, Alan Johnson replaced Patricia Hewitt as SofS for Health.

In October 2008, the Department of Health published “Trans - a practical guide for the NHS” which advised the NHS to ‘go further’ than the law. This was written by Christine Burns (see photo on the cover).

At the same time, other Department of Health guidance started to conflate sex and gender - the language becomes less clear. It is interesting that Baroness Nicholson recalls seeing an email from inside the NHS in 2008, pushing back against single sex spaces (I’ve linked, as its such a big claim).

January 2009, Alan Johnson (then SofS) announces a big push on eliminating sex accommodation “except where it is absolutely clinically necessary”. I have no idea if he knew that this was inaccurate. He was SofS when the May CNO note was published (including Annex E) but he was reshuffled very soon afterwards, on 5 June, and replaced by Andy Burnham.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-05-01/debates/75F1B529-7B0E-483A-AC7F-8FF909FEFE8B/NHSSingle-SexSpacesForStaff#contribution-1BC8911B-6B78-4876-A4F8-A23E8C5E01C9

@GreenAllOver, you continue to blow us away. Piece by piece the history of all this is coming into the light.

That’s very kind of you- I’ve had a lot of help from @KnottyAuty @BeLemonHam @Harassedevictee among others.

I could do with someone cross checking my work and also doing some more digging for the data collection guidance, if anyone is interested?

Not sure if it adds anything but I did find this doc - dating from 2002 - which contains a check list for ensuring single sex accommodation. So it looks like sex still meant sex then.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Enhancing_privacy___dignity.pdf

I've also been doing some digging - I think most of what I've found you've also shared. I have been struck by the coverage generated by other individuals - hat tip to the Baroness - and groups Sex Matters, LGB Alliance and CAN-SG

I think someone suggested considering making our archive an opensource resource, I wondered if, in future we could join forces with other organisations to promote access to our findings?

https://can-sg.org/frequently-asked-questions/how-do-single-sex-policies-for-healthcare-facilities-and-requests-for-same-sex-healthcare-practitioners-currently-apply-within-the-nhs/

According to ChatGPT (I know, I know):

"The report you're referring to is titled "Review of Mixed-Sex Accommodation in Hospitals", authored by Professor Christine Beasley, the Chief Nursing Officer for England at the time. This report was published in May 2007 and addressed the ongoing challenges in eliminating mixed-sex accommodation within NHS hospitals.ReaderTTS
The report highlighted that, despite previous commitments, a significant number of NHS trusts continued to provide mixed-sex accommodation, thereby compromising patient privacy and dignity. It emphasized the need for renewed efforts to achieve single-sex accommodation across all NHS facilities.
While the full text of the report is not readily available online, summaries and discussions of its findings were reported in various news outlets at the time. For instance, The Guardian covered the report's release and its implications for patient care.
If you require more detailed information or specific excerpts from the report, I recommend contacting the Department of Health and Social Care or accessing archives of NHS publications from that period."

Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust submitted

Wow you’ve all been such busy vipers!
Thanks so much
Loving the progress on east of England
And the history of how all this came to pass is fascinating!

I best get back to wrangling the back end of the Midlands as you’re all going faster than me!?

While on that topic - a couple of pointers which will help improve efficiency extracting things out of the clunky Jotform:

Pretty please for East of England - do use the given list a) to g) of checks to organise your findings for patients and then staff for each Trust. You can cut and paste the list over from the Jotform template (highlight, Ctrl C then Ctrl V for anyone who is maybe struggling with the tech). Do shout if you need a hand with advice on this - but see another image of how it will ideally look below.

With so many different trusts the template layout the quickest way to prove that all single sex spaces were gone prior to the SC ruling. And maybe still are if the trusts are resistant to change

Smallish quotes and URLs in with the list/template layout are good. Longer quotes, pieces and unusual items are good in the comments/notes box at the end.

Where you want to add a personal comment try prefacing with “AUDIT POV:” Otherwise it’s tricky for me or a reporter to know what is policy and what is a helpful comment 😎

And if there’s no trans staff policy don’t worry, if there’s evidence of Stonewall or Rainbow badges then thats the fall-back proof that staff changing is self-ID. No further searching needed 😊 But do find and reference the policy where you can.

Thanks so much - sorry for all the instructions and fine tuning. I keep learning how to do it even better as we go along.

The midlands has been a monster with 40 trusts but it’s a big leap forward to our all England target. With the entire UK as the bigger goal … we must be getting close to half way… ?

This is all brilliant work - loving the team effort
Go wims!
xx

Oops image must be on my laptop will post shortly

From the online Telegraph this afternoon:

'A series of investigations by The Telegraph has revealed the widespread failure of NHS trusts across the UK to provide single sex spaces' (italics mine)

Whose investigation, The Telegraph? Whose?

The Ermine Research Group, that’s who 😍

Currently doing Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT - feeling left behind by so many others on this thread. Wish I could just do this instead of (much more boring) paid work... where's all that supposed right wing money so we can quit our day jobs when it's at home?

Anyway, wanted to pop in to say ATTENTION ANY CAMBRIDGESHIRE (or former Cambridgeshire) VIPERS!

They're currently having an election for governors - deadline 19th May. To vote you need to be a member and to be a member you need to fit the following criteria:

Patients
Those who are patients or have been a patient of the Trust at anytime in the past, regardless their home address. Carers are also eligible to apply as a patient member.
Public
Individuals who live within the public membership area.
Staff
Employees who are on permanent or fixed term contract of at least 12 months.
Trust volunteers
Other individuals providing services to the Trust.

Foundation Trust Membership | CUH

So as many women (or indeed men) who are interested in protecting safeguarding and sex based rights and following the supreme court law (not Stonewall law) who fit the above and sign up the better. I don't know if you sign up now if you can vote in the elections, but since there's two weeks to go (ish) it seems like it's worth trying.

Sadly too late to apply to be a governor, that deadline was in March.

ooh got a link please?

Pretty cheeky! Maybe we should all write letters to the editor!!

No idea how to link, Knotty. Sorry.

Anyone else know?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/06/nhs-plain-english-transgender-streeting/

Ooh have I done it? It's in here somewhere.

Gifty:

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/aa08aeef553ed344

Totally done it!

Thank you!

Amazing! No stopping me now.

Activist training camp 😎

Asked about NHS language on cervical screening, Mr Streeting said it had “annoyed lots of us”.
**
“Well, the thing that I’ve railed against is the erasure of women,” he told Times Radio.

Has he? Prior to the SC judgment? Don't remember that.

I mean, he apologised for going along with Stonewall and being blind to the harms to women, and he stood up for the Darlington nurses. I don’t claim that he’s perfect, but he’s been honest about having got it wrong and wanting to try to make it right, so I’m prepared to listen to him.