NHS Policy Audit - working party -Thread #3

[KnottyAuty]

NHS Policy Audit - working party -Thread #3

Original thread #1 here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5291237-nhs-policy-audit-working-party?page=1
Thread #2:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5322494-nhs-policy-audit-working-party-thread-2

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!

You all might be familiar with this already, but LadyElaine asked me to mention that if you have pages that Google is telling you contain a reference to some text but you can't find the text on the page in the browser, the text might be coming from attributes that are applied to an image. For example, if you see references to Stonewall, but can't find it in the text, it might be coming from a Stonewall Diversity Champion accreditation badge image somewhere on the page. We've seen this on job vacancy pages. On the pages we've looked at, this badge is not just an image, but also links to the Stonewall site. You can see the text if you hover over the image.

As part of investigating that, I noticed that there is a new NHS-wide vacancies site at jobs.nhs.uk. It's still marked as BETA. There are no accreditation badges on that site for any of the jobs I've looked at and also the documents posted next to the job are different on that site compared with the ones on the trust's own (trac.jobs) site. For example, at least one trust (Morecambe) posts a document from their LGBT staff network next to every job posting on their own site, but that document is not present on the jobs.nhs.uk site for the same jobs. I wonder why the difference?

Trusts are still maintaining their own job vacancy pages and all the trusts I've looked at are using the same tech, so accreditation badges are supported on those pages. Looking at current job postings may be another way of knowing what programs a trust has signed on to.

This is so helpful, I have been wondering! Thank you.

Thank you @FeedbackProvider that is helpful. I think it explains why we sometimes get the impression that a website has been 'cleaned up'. I sometimes use AI for a wider search and the links it provides appear to be broken or a reference removed.

Thank you - we have plenty to go at. Next up is Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Great - I’m on it!

Not sure if anyone else has come across this Stonewall publication on their travels around other trusts?

Sharing for others to appreciate this claim in particular

"Ensuring that your service delivery or customer service is trans inclusive will ensure that:

You will avoid any potential lawsuits or reputational damage, and fulfil legislative requirements"

Presumably by following the advice in its guides - how's that working out for Fife / Darlington / St Hellier so far?

trans-resource-6.indd

That is a brilliant one for the archive! My goodness it's like a bingo card of unlawfulness!

You'll love this one too - you've probably seen it before but the first time for me. Lots of references to other docs at the end too, going right back to the 2007 era

Trans Users Rights

I'm sure someone was looking for this document recently; if I remember who I'll direct them here.

It was probably @GreenAllOver

It was and I found it, thanks!

I’m finding MN almost unusable at the moment with ads not loading and pages freezing, so I haven’t been on here much, but I’m still working away slowly.

I submitted University Hospitals Plymouth earlier today. It's much like other trusts: an extensive policy on single sex accommodation where every breach must be documented, but made completely meaningless by self-ID. And no mention how the self-ID policy relates to the breach and consent requirements described in the same document. The table for the equality impact assessment has been filled in, but with formulaic text. Evidence of form-filling, but not evidence that an actual assessment was done.

I'm curious whether anyone has seen a complete and well-considered EqIA in their research so far?

Thank you for this. In answer to your question I certainly haven't seen an EquIA that is remotely adequate. Most of them seem assume that having a policy is a good thing for all groups and completely miss the point.

I’ve only seen one that even hinted at a negative impact on anyone else (females and people with religious beliefs) but as it considered “gender (including transgender)” as one category (no sex category natch) it was hardly a good example.

mostly they seem to take an intersectional approach centering trans people, so write things like “trans people can be any age/sexuality/religion etc so this policy will be a good thing”

I’ve read one (out of many, many, many dozens) that mentioned, under the PC of “religion,” that some people believe that sex is binary, with a footnote referencing Forstater. It had a mealy mouthed “and so you’ll need to keep that in mind” kind of sentence after that.

The impression I remember getting was that someone GC had flagged this as being necessary to include, but that the policy writers (copy and pasters) basically thought it was dismissable in the same way they seem to think religious beliefs are dismissable - the person can have those beliefs, sure, and it’s not nice to tell them they can’t have those beliefs, but a good, right-thinking person will not of course take those beliefs seriously.

@SeaStoat, do you have downloads of the results of your FOI of Cornwall Partnership?

I see others are adding a bit more information about what they have found.

I didn’t find any real bombshells for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay - standard self-ID by stealth and conflation of sex and gender - but there were a few big sigh moments.

With all the budgetary constraints the NHS is facing, they hosted Joanne Lockwood on May 9, 2023 - https://x.com/UHMBT/status/1655863644993757184
One of her sites shows that at one time she was asking a rate of £3795 - £4500 for in person, £3295 - £4000 for a virtual event - https://raisethebar.co.uk/speaker/joanne-lockwood/#:~:text=Joanne%20Lockwood%20is%20the%20Founder,Inspiration%20%26%20Motivation%20Leadership%20Personal%20Development

At the end of last year, they launched pronouns on staff ID badges.
https://www.facebook.com/UHMBT/posts/we-want-to-support-our-colleagues-patients-the-public-to-feel-safe-to-express-th/595227972855420/

Comments fairly negative from staff, with the most negative apparently deleted.

One woman asked “So how does this work when patients request only female or male nurses/staff due to their spiritual or religious beliefs?”
Another commented “Telling people what pronouns to use is coercing their language. It is completely unnecessary.”

Rather than addressing legitimate concerns of their staff, whoever is running their Facebook responded, “We would like to remind everyone to act with kindness before leaving comments. We do not condone hateful language or bullying of any group of people - ever. Abusive comments will be removed.”

I’m assuming so-called abusive comments might have included people pointing out men aren’t women and lying about it could make a difference to patients and other staff.

Interestingly, this trust seems to have taken a mixed approach to erasing women in their vocabulary. For instance, they have separate pages on their perinatal pelvic health page for “women” and for “trans men, trans masculine and non-binary people (who were assigned female at birth)”. In the first document, they use the term “vagina,” while in the second they use “front hole.” https://www.uhmb.nhs.uk/maternity/perinatal-pelvic-health-service - look under Antenatal/During pregnancy.

Joanne Lockwood is very obviously a male transexual. He is another to add to the list of male transexuals whose whole identity & career is that they are "trans".

Yes, sorry - that should obviously be his and he instead of hers and she. Yikes.

I've submitted North West Ambulance. Very little on website.

Womens Network
'The Womens network was launched in 2022 to provide a forum for female staff members, those who identify as females... help the organisation understand the female experience'

We supported the fifth National Ambulance LGBT+ Conference, which was held at Manchester Metropolitan University on 15 and 16 June 2023... considered how best the ambulance service can meet the needs of people with multiple protected characteristics, as well demystifying the LGBTTQQIAAP acronym.

Use of Single Sex Facilities
'Should other staff members have an objection to the above for any reason, they should discuss this with their manager. As well as listening to and addressing the concerns of the staff member, the discussion should include reference to the law advising that the trans employee can legally use a particular facility, the Trust values of care and compassion and the Trust vision of an inclusion workplace. Please also see ‘Harassment’ section below.'
'Refusal to use the new name and/or pronoun of the trans person or objections about sharing toilet facilities could be the start of behaviours leading to harassment.'

Policy on Transgender Staff
As part of this process they will decide the appropriate point when a form of dress and the use of single sex facilities will be adopted in accord with the new social gender. However, this change in social gender, whilst usually taking place during or after hormone therapy will sometimes occur years before the final surgical procedure. In some cases, there will be no final surgical procedure...
There will also be information available for staff, so they are aware of their responsibilities and how they can support colleagues undergoing gender transition.

I can take another Trust x

I've submitted Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust but haven't been able to find anything of substance. There are no inpatient facilities so Single Sex Accommodation doesn't apply but there is no Ermine FOI for this one and the Cleo Madelaine one from 2021 did not share anything relevant.

No links to Stonewall or Rainbow Badge but accreditation from the Navajo LGBTQ+ Charter Mark Navajo – In-Trust: Merseyside

@FarriersGirl I have just submitted Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust so I'm ready for the next one 😀

A nice bit of sex and gender confusion in Lancashire:

When considering mixed sex, it is important full individual consideration is given to the patients chosen identity or gender variant to ensure discrimination or adverse experiences are not encountered as a result of an individual’s chosen identity. The term gender is used throughout the document to refer to the patients chosen gender, not biological gender.

@TwoLoonsAndASprout Your query on the DM should be answered by the post above. If not let me know.

Fab - thank you!!