NHS guidance on the provision of single-sex services and facilities - BMA Statement

[IwantToRetire]

NB extracts only:

Since the April 2025 Supreme Court judgment on the definition of sex under the Equality Act 2010, the BMA has been deeply concerned about the potential harms that the ruling would have on our trans and non-binary members, colleagues, patients and wider community.

We are deeply concerned that this high-level guidance will result in local policies that are exclusionary to trans and non-binary staff and patients. It will affect their ability to access and work in the NHS and have negative consequences for cisgender people. We are calling for urgent clarity from NHS England on how employers can implement the guidance in a way that is safe and inclusive of trans and non-binary people, who are already one of society’s most marginalised groups and who are becoming ever more fearful of harassment and discrimination when accessing healthcare

Cisgender people, often women who do not meet society’s narrow expectations of femininity, are already finding they are being challenged when they try to access the single-sex spaces the guidance would expect them to.

Any revision of policies or services must be done in collaboration with trade unions and the trans and non-binary workforce and must be compatible with the NHS Constitution and the Equality Act and Human Rights Act.

Full statement: https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/statement-nhs-guidance-on-the-provision-of-single-sex-services-and-facilities

Exactly this.

Any revision of policies or services must be done in collaboration with trade unions and the trans and non-binary workforce

But not women of course, you know the people that their previous policy impacted the most and weren't consulted then.

The misogyny screams loud and clear every time.

🤣 but you’re not wrong!

How do we think that collaboration would go? It would take less than a minute and you could do it by email.

Hey guys, can women exercise their legal rights to privacy and dignity and a male free space?

No.

Ok.

THIS IS WHY WOMEN NEED THE FUCKING LAW. They just demonstrate it over and over and over again.

I am a gender non-conforming woman who has on occasions been momentarily mistaken for a man
'Excuse me, this is the Ladies!'
'It's OK, I'm in the right place'
'Oh sorry love'

I should be basking in all this attention we are suddenly getting - nobody gave a tuppenny damn about us for for ever, and now everybody is falling over themselves with concern about our 'safety'.

But I'm not. I know we're just being used.

edited for non-conforming spelling🙃

who are already one of society’s most marginalised groups

A wise person once said that whenever you see the word 'marginalised' (or more usually the US spelling with a 'z') then you know that you are in the presence of Social Justice Theory.

It is interesting that my first reaction to this screed was 'Gosh, that all sounds terribly dated'. 😁

"trans and non-binary people, who are already one of society’s most marginalised groups"

This load of shite has taken root like Japanese knotweed and is mindlessly regurgitated like a bad dose of norovirus. I want a factual source for it, not just "hurty words made me sad"

This is the final straw for me I’m going to to sort out hcsa membership and resign.

I agree - there are red flags, like 'most marginalised', that make you doubt the validity of everything else they say.

Another example is 'intersex [sic] people are as numerous as red-heads' which is based on an incorrect statistic from 2000, which even the author accepted was mistaken. And yet it, and the disproved 1.7% figure, keeps popping up.

Recently an Irish politician called for legal recognition of NB and intersex people and claimed that intersex people were as numerous as - not people with red hair, but people with green eyes!
It appears that intersex people are as numerous as Maureen O'Hara😁

Has he been able to join another union? I do think medical staff, including nurses, health carers, support services, etc need access to union support. It seems a high risk industry.

Cisgender people, often women who do not meet society’s narrow expectations of femininity, are already finding they are being challenged when they try to access the single-sex spaces the guidance would expect them to.

So according to the BMA, it's only the narrow expectations of femininity that informs our understanding of male and female?

I fear that medical education is not what it once was...

The behaviour of the BMA has very much undermined my faith in the competency of doctors.

If they can't understand the impact of something as basic as sex, what else aren't they understanding?

Obviously not all doctors are members of the BMA, but the BMA has the loudest voice and there doesn't seem to be much opposition.

It's neither here nor there.

Jehovah's Witnesses are marginalised, but that doesn't give them a platform to dictate NHS policy.

Also, it's not clear how this policy excludes non-binary people...

We truly should not underestimate the human race's ability and eagerness to take initially good ideas and corrupt them in ways that harm everyone they were supposed to support.

Edit: long pause to consider use of underestimate vs overestimate 🤔

The vast majority of doctors are BMA members. They are a very good union apart from the trans madness. I had the luxury of resigning on principle as I am retired.

I never understood why the BMA gave credence to this unscientific nonsense till I read this thread. Sorry you've had to endure it first hand.

MN is an education sometimes.

No , and he’s in a high risk part of the profession . He does pay a lot of medical defence fees . He’s retiring soon but sadly DS is a doctor and has drank the kool aid - Leeds uni were fully TWAW

Leeds uni were fully TWAW

Does he ever analyse what this means, or is it just a slogan he thinks good people say?

As a doctor does he not think that sex is important when diagnosing patients or prescribing medicine? Or do you think he just compartmentalises and doesn't link the consequences of having a female body to women's need for sex specific rights?

I'm just interested in your take on how he reconciles these things.

I'd tell him he's about to be shunted over to the Wrong Side of History in the next few years as more of the truth about transactivism is being revealed all the time.

And the spectacular failure to join the dots and reflect on how gender ideology exactly reinforces society’s (read men’s) narrow expectations of femininity.

Such that if men ‘dress as women’ (but not always), then the BMA think they should be allowed to access women’s single-sex spaces.

Marie, I read that as "I know we're just being sued." 😆Too many tribunals on at the moment...

I’m trying to bite my tongue , the younger DS and DD are sensible but the oldest is #bekind ‘mum you can’t say that ‘ when I say anything GC at all . I’ll bide my time

Frankly, universities have a lot to answer for in respect of the spread of transactivism.
They mostly haven't backed down yet either.

You've been very kind to share the info you have already about your family. I had to bite my tongue this weekend: saw old friends at a party. Knew their DD had trans identified as male a few years ago, partly why we lost touch, they know my views. I was hoping to have heard that things had settled back, but no, all my son this, my son that. So not my party, just a guest, I was mega-polite, showed interest, asked follow-up questions on career, uni etc. I genuinely wish this girl well, she is clearly functioning much better now as an adult than she was as a teenager. But that doesn't change my fundamental view you cannot change sex, and men do not belong in female only spaces. It's hard to be firm but not alienating.

This is what I can't get my head around.
These are people of science, FFS.