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

Have we come across this organisation before? They 'work alongside' North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust.

https://www.hartgables.org.uk/about-us
Hart Gables is a support service for those who identify as LGBTQ+ across Teesside and East Durham.
We work to ensure that all LGBTQ+ people are given equal life chances and have services that meet their needs. We do this through supporting the local community, working with partner organisations and delivering award winning awareness training across the UK.

This training looks fun:

Changing the narrative – An effective response to gender critical thinking
This training delves into an in-depth exploration of gender critical rhetoric, focusing on strategies to effectively respond to gender critical communications. By examining the foundations of gender critical thinking and its implications, we aim to tackle and challenge this rhetoric while considering the potential ripple effect on broader societal conversations.

Good grief!
Do they say how they will counter GC thinking?

Wow. That needs sunlight.

They appear to receive Lottery and Children in Need funding.

No, I can't access the training itself

Well done - I hadn't noticed that. Bl**dy BBC Children in Need funding😡

Hart Gables was set up in 2018 and is a local charity focussed on LGBT. It turned over £159k last year and lost £13k. and has been dug in as the alphabetti trainer of choice in that region including Cleveland Police for 15 years. It's had £423k from The Lottery Fund. Giving is Great is a useful website for info on charities.

https://givingisgreat.org/database/charity-factsheet/?regNo=1179075

It's also working in schools. Last year, it ran 21 training sessions and 12 workshops throughout Teesside schools. "520 delegates were reached through the 21 training sessions and 1487 young people through the school workshops."

Thanks @SeaStoat , that is interesting information. I am very unhappy to hear that it is working with schools, given its obvious bias against GC thinking. I imagine it is telling kids that same-sex attraction is actually same-gender attraction. So not an LGBT charity in reality. Just a T charity

Apologies this is going down a rabbit hole.

This charity has a previous incarnation, another charity also called Hart Gables, number 1109704. https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/4014563/governance. The registration history is:

• 26 May 2005: Standard registration
• 05 March 2019: Removed (Funds transferred (incor))
• 05 March 2019: Funds transferred to 1179075 HART GABLES

so it has actually been going for 20 years.

Their Facebook page says they save lives, and support people with poor mental health, in poverty and asylum seekers. It mentions a meeting on May 29 to discuss the Supreme Court ruling, with a second session planned. They list attendees as Cleveland Police Teesside University ARCH Teesside Terrence Higgins Trust Safer Communities Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust and members of the public.

One of their youth workers lists “Tavistock referrals” as a specialist area. Another lists the “LGBTQ+ asylum process” as a specialist area. There are many appeals for funding.

Hart Gables also have links with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust (which I am trying to finish off for submission - apologies, got sidetracked by busy half-term)

Can't seem to link to this @Bunpea ? I tried the charity number you gave too

Oh. Not sure what the problem might be. I can still see it from Safari (not from DuckDuckGo). I’m pasting in a screenshot of the charity commission website page for 1109704. Can you see it? Sorry I am not very familiar with the editor on this system. I can send the image to you if you like.

Something happened to their finances in 2017/2018 - big increase. And then charity number 1109704 was removed, and its funds transferred to a new charity. Adding another screenshot here - think Mumsnet has to review images before loading them so it may take a while.

@Bunpea I can see your screenshots. Thank you!

I have submitted South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS FT. By far the rainbow-iest, Stonewall-iest, Pride-iest Trust I have seen. Couldn't find a trans staff policy though despite it being referenced.

From a 2023 report available on the Trust's website:
''NHS Rainbow Badge Pledges and Inclusive Leadership. We have now received over 3500 Rainbow Badge pledges from staff who want to wear a Rainbow Badge to demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity for LGBT+ patients and colleagues. The NHS Rainbow Badge can be worn on lanyards or aprons by anyone seeking to make a difference for both patients and staff, by providing environment that is inclusive and celebrating of diversity. The badge isn’t just worn by those who identify themselves as LGBT+, but can also be worn allies and by those who role model inclusive and supportive behaviours. We ask anyone who wished to wear a Rainbow Badge to make an inclusivity pledge to demonstrate why they wish to wear it. Some of our leadership team recently renewed their commitment to LGBT+ inclusivity by creating new pledges or resharing their original. The board have also recently engaged in a Gender Diversity education workshop run by Dr. Debbie Wood.''

2022 report on Transgender Day of Visibility
''To recognise the day we invited Reverend Sarah Jones to deliver a lunch and learn session on MS Teams for STSFT staff to celebrate Trans Day of Visibility 2022. Sarah was the first person to be ordained in the Church of England having previously made a gender change. In January 2005 she hit the headlines when she was outed to a national newspaper as having made a gender change many years previously. ''

Ooh - just found this FSU letter re 2023 Transitioning at Work and Gender Diversity Policy:
https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-the-ceo-of-south-tyneside-and-sunderland-nhs-foundation-trusts-transitioning-at-work-and-gender-diversity-policy/#:~:text=Summary,compensation%20in%20the%20Employment%20Tribunal.
Apols - I haven't included this in the submission. I've now saved it.
''In the course of our work we come across some pretty egregious equity, diversity and inclusion policies, but the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust’s ‘Transitioning at Work and Gender Diversity Policy’ is the worst yet. This NHS Trust is effectively telling female Muslim employees that if they refuse to use – or express any concerns about using – toilets or showers with trans-identifying biological males they will face disciplinary action. That is a clear breach of the Equality Act and any employee sacked by this Trust for failing to comply with the more draconian aspects of this policy, whether a person of faith or someone with gender critical beliefs, would have an open-and-shut case for compensation in the Employment Tribunal.''

"We ask anyone who wished to wear a Rainbow Badge to make an inclusivity pledge to demonstrate why they wish to wear it. Some of our leadership team recently renewed their commitment to LGBT+ inclusivity by creating new pledges or resharing their original. The board have also recently engaged in a Gender Diversity education workshop run by Dr. Debbie Wood.''

Googling on the name finds that Dr Debbie is a psychologist not a medical doctor & unsurprisingly photos show he is clearly a transexual male.

Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust submitted, sorry it took so long

Sorry for the radio silence. @TwoLoonsAndASprout and I have both had a busy time. However we have managed to get a piece in the Times on the London mental health trusts - I've been frantically refreshing their website for a week, but it has finally landed. Thanks all you fabulous wims xx

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/nhs-mental-health-hospital-wards-criminals-self-identify-women-09b65qfgm

I will post an archive link when it is created - does anyone have access for a gift link for the comments please?

Very nicely done, Knotty!

Does this work? https://www.thetimes.com/article/57de0939-7e44-4133-bac7-35b84b39eb60?shareToken=163486e2c30b4bc1d62b1c049323fbac

Thanks! no comments visible - apparently this is a new thing - only subscribers can see - so maybe you can let us know how it fares? I like to track how many online comments are registered in the first week to get an idea of impact/interest

139 comments as of 4pm. All appalled - lots of versions of “the lunatics are running the asylum”.

Can’t see any in support of the NHS.

@KnottyAuty

All appalled - lots of versions of “the lunatics are running the asylum”.
Can’t see any in support of the NHS.

Sorry, does that mean they all think it's a terrible policy, and they don't agree with the NHS policy of men on women's wards?

I read it the wrong way the first time and thought there had been an invasion of TRA trolls

Yes, they don’t agree with the self ID policy and think the NHS is in the wrong.

Top 3 comments so far...