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

Not RTFT but will BBC cover it so we think? Guardian?

Not that it matters because fucking JK!!!!!

Nah. Much more important stuff to report on. Look: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge92xldrjo.amp

Great work, @KnottyAuty and all.

The Telegraph says the NHS Confederation has withdrawn their unlawful guidance but hasn't told the trusts. https://archive.ph/4Imvo

The article says:

"The NHS Confederation, which represents trusts, has quietly withdrawn guidance telling hospitals that they should allow trans people to use their chosen toilets and changing rooms.

The group told The Telegraph it had taken the guide down from its website because it had become “dated” since the <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/4Imvo/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/16/supreme-court-rule-trans-women/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Supreme Court judgment that the word sex in the Equality Act means biological sex.

The <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/4Imvo/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/20/trans-nhs-patients-access-women-only-space-in-london/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">confederation’s advice is now being updated in line with the Supreme Court ruling and new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and will be published later.

On Thursday night, women’s rights charities demanded that the confederation apologise for the guidance, which they claimed may have led to unfair decisions, such as the <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/4Imvo/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/15/nhs-trust-breaking-law-trans-row-royal-college-nursing/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">case of Darlington nurses who were disciplined for demanding single-sex facilities.

They said that rather than deleting the guidance, the confederation should actively inform all trusts that it was now null and void."

@SeaStoat SERIOUSLY?!? Holy shit that’s enormous!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/c3ea3843fa0ff430

Gifty link for the comments

Brilliant! Was this your spot?!

Yes. I love the link to yr work in the article.

And there's this from the marvellous Joan Smith - behind a paywall and imperfectly archived. https://archive.ph/4PNFs

I can’t spot the link to us…

Good Work!
But I can’t spot the link to us in the Telegraph - what am I missing?

Thanks for the link to that Unherd article. This topic really has grabbed people’s attention

Hah, @KnottyAuty, cross-posted 🤣

It's in tis para. When I copied and posted text from the Confederation article, it took the link in the text to the London article - www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/20/trans-nhs-patients-access-women-only-space-in-london/.

"<a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/4Imvo/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/20/trans-nhs-patients-access-women-only-space-in-london/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">confederation’s advice is now being updated in line with the Supreme Court ruling and new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and will be published later."

@SeaStoat - aha! Got it - thank you! I don’t usually click on all the links, so I missed that. Joan Smith’s Unherd article mentions us too!

You vipers are fantastic!

@SeaStoat sent me the TalkTV WRN link which is different to the other link above!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h5syQoT1Y2M

So the risk of a sexually disinhibited mentally ill transwoman on a women's mental health ward is not that he might assault or distress mentally ill women, but that he might risk outing himself? That's the risk they concerned themselves with?

Fuck me, every time I think I've seen the worst NHS Trust gender bollocks, another Trust manages to sink that bit lower.

I've tried to keep track of all the articles so far, but it all got a bit fast and furious the last 2 days. I think this is a complete list but please do post links if you find any other references to the audit.

Well done wims this is an impressive list - off only the first two regions?!

Scotland:
25th March: The Telegraph: Bearded trans women can be treated on female wards, says Scottish NHS
https://archive.is/dTUhY
26th March: Scottish Daily Express: Research from group of Scottish Mumsnet users claim that NO NHS Scotland health boards offer single sex facilities
https://archive.is/kaLCB
26th March: The Telegraph: Trans policy will 'raise awareness of menstruation in men's toilets' says NHS trust
https://archive.is/iSD9m
12th May: audit referenced in Telegraph: scottish NHS trusts refuse to ditch trans policies
https://archive.is/ja6mT

London:
21st April: The Telegraph: Trans NHS patients can access every women-only space in London
https://archive.is/awGuz
23rd April: The Telegraph: NHS hospitals 'trying to defy' trans ruling (in conjunction with another thread by NHS mumsnetters)
https://archive.is/1DO8d
25th April: The Telegraph: Teenage boys allowed on girls' hospital wards under NHS gender rules
https://archive.ph/Iyblu
25th April: BBC Antisocial Podcast - Sex, Gender & The NHS (about 26mins)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002b76x
3rd May: The Telegraph: NHS uses derogatory 'terf' slur in official guidance
https://archive.ph/uLsfi 
4th May: The Daily Mail: NHS Trust uses offensive TERF slang
https://archive.is/Wlve8
6th May: audit referenced in Telegraph: NHS must ‘use plain English’ for transgender people, says Streeting
https://archive.is/oivI5
13th May: audit referenced in Daily Sceptic: The NHS no longer recognises the reality of biological sex/
https://archive.is/MXl9A
4th June: The Times: NHS mental health hospitals allow criminals to self-identify as women
https://archive.is/uMbDb
4th June: Daily Mail: Mental health hospitals in charge of violent criminals allowing biologically male patients who self ID as women on female wards
https://archive.ph/ExvU1
4th June: Telegraph: Male criminals can self-identify as women in mental health hospitals
https://archive.ph/t23JQ
5th June: UnHerd: NHS mental health hospitals should not let criminals self-ID
https://archive.ph/G7ecJ
5th June TalkTV WRN: Mentally ill men permitted to self ID as women by the NHS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=h5syQoT1Y2M&ab_channel=Women%27sRightsNetwork
5th June TalkTV JHB: NHS Trans Crisis
https://x.com/TalkTV/status/1930567996667232744

Just, wow. Seeing that list gathered together...

Amazing work! You should be very, very proud of yourselves. I'm incredibly proud of you all x

This is fantastic work everyone!

Thank you!

I’m on the case trying to get The Midlands out there now. Slightly tricky as there does seem to have been more interest in London but I’ll give it a go. Does anyone know if there’s a local Midlands newspaper that might be interested if the nationals aren’t?

Absolutely brilliant.

Outstanding!
You've exposed the travesty at the heart of the NHS in safeguarding women and girls - all in their own words.

Now to get Streeting and the government to insist that these toxic beliefs are removed from the NHS immediately.

We’ve had a bit of a quiet one over half term but I’m thinking we need to get going and finish off the whole country ASAP. Coverage so far has been towards the right but can the BBC and Guardian really “ignore” national “no single sex spaces” evidence?!

Coverage so far has been towards the right but can the BBC and Guardian really “ignore” national “no single sex spaces” evidence?!

I was just about to ask, am I right in thinking that so far, absolutely not one organisation examined has had a genuine single sex policy in place?

The majority so far are defo no single sex. Some are less clear but if they are members of Stonewall or Rainbow Badges then by implication that means self-ID. There are clearly some more GC tending trusts but I’ve not yet seen any Trust tackle it head on and try to give a balanced view. It’s all obfuscation, mangled language and omissions. So no evidence of confirmed/categorical single sex space so far…