• Government will consult on key changes to the NHS Constitution
to strengthen protections for women.
• Patients set to have their say following concerns about
protection for single sex wards and same-sex intimate care
requests.
• Sex-specific language now fully restored to online NHS advice
pages
Today, the Health Secretary announced a consultation will be
launched this year to change the NHS Constitution for England to
address growing concerns raised by both patients and staff about
biological men being allowed onto women’s hospital wards.
The move will look to ensure that female or male-only wards, are
protected and that requests to have intimate care provided by
someone of the same sex are respected.
The proposals will seek to enshrine rights and responsibilities
in the key documents to better protect the privacy, dignity and
safety of all patients, making clear that women’s concerns about
where they receive care, and from who, must be respected.
In a further move to address patient concerns, the Health
Secretary today confirmed sex-specific language has now been
fully restored to online NHS advice pages about cervical and
ovarian cancer and the menopause. This is part of our efforts to
ensure women’s voices are always heard in the NHS and their
health is not put at risk by confusing and unclear public
information.
Minsters ordered the rewriting of the advice following an outcry
from patients and frontline NHS staff. A new standard will also
ensure relevant biological differences are always included in NHS
guidance for the public.
This work was carried out alongside the launch of a new online
Women’s Health Hub designed to provide a one-stop-shop to support
women at every stage of their lives.
Today’s measures build on the Government’s Women’s Health
Strategy, which ensures women’s voices are always heard in the
NHS and they get the healthcare they need.
This government will always take the necessary long-terms
decisions to protect women and our health service. But, while
Conservatives are standing up for women, Labour is deeply divided
on gender issues, Sir can’t even define what a woman
is.
Health & Social Care Secretary said:
“We need a common-sense approach to sex and equality issues in
the NHS - that is why today I am announcing proposals for clearer
rights for patients.
“And I can today confirm that sex-specific language has now been
fully restored to online health advice pages about cervical and
ovarian cancer and the menopause. It is vital that women’s voices
are heard in the NHS and the privacy, dignity and safety of all
patients are protected.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- We are responding to concerns raised by patients and staff
about biological men being allowed onto women's hospital wards.
- Enshrining rights and responsibilities in the NHS
Constitution can help to strengthen the long-awaited update to
same-sex accommodation delivery guidance. A review of the
guidance on same-sex accommodation was ordered by the former
Secretary of State in August 2021. Changes to the Constitution
will bolster this operational guidance.
- The NHS Women’s Health pages have been rewritten to restore
gender-specific terms. The changes apply to condition-specific
advice pages on the national NHS website where the condition is
only relevant to either sex, for example, cervical cancer, the
menopause and prostate cancer. (www.nhsuk/womens-health
link)
- Work began on rewriting NHS health guidance for women in the
summer. Gender-neutral NHS advice is finally being binned.
Following a massive outcry and demands for a U-turn,
gender-specific language is being reintroduced. (Mail Online,
24th July 2023 link)
- Labour is confused and divided on gender issues. refuses to answer when asked
whether a woman can have a penis. The Labour leader says: ‘I
don’t think that discussing this issue in this way helps anyone
in the long run’ amid trans debate division in party. (Daily
Telegraph, 28th March 2022 link)
