𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Hospitals and other NHS services will be given new guidance about providing single-sex spaces “before the summer”, the Health Secretary has pledged. Currently, the NHS promises single-sex wards but says trans people will be accommodated “according to their presentation” based on “the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they currently use”. This includes access to most toilet and bathing facilities, although not open showers.

Mr Streeting hinted that hospitals will be told to provide accommodation based on biological sex in the future. The rules are being reviewed following a Supreme Court ruling in April that the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act refers to biology. He said: “I do think biological same-sex spaces are really important, particularly for women and for women’s safety, but we also need to make sure that we’re providing dignity and care and compassion and respect for trans people.

“That’s the approach this Government is taking – after years of what has been quite a rancorous and sometimes toxic debate, we want to move forward in a way that brings people together, that protects women’s rights, voices and spaces and also protects trans people from harm, discrimination and hatred.”

He added: “Employers and service providers across the country are looking at the judgment and reflecting on what it means for services.

“Single-sex spaces in the NHS should always have been there, by the way, in terms of things like hospital wards and for good reason that go far beyond the debate about gender and biological sex – there have been breaches; there are resource pressures and turning that situation around does take time.

The Health Secretary also attacked “well-meaning but totally misguided attempts” by the NHS to be inclusive of trans people, which avoid mentioning women, saying: “We’ve got to make sure that in NHS documents that we speak in plain English.”

It comes after some NHS trusts advised staff to use phrases such as “person with a cervix” or “birthing person” to ensure people who do not identify as a woman are included.

Mr Streeting said: “I think it’s annoyed lots of us because you don’t need to exclude or erase women in order to be trans-inclusive.

“There will be women invited for cervical smear tests and there will be trans men who have a cervix. And we’ve got to make sure that in NHS documents that we speak in plain English.”

School leaders’ union the NAHT has urged the Education Secretary to provide “urgent support and information” to schools about how to respond to the Supreme Court ruling while a number of sporting bodies including the FA and England and Wales Cricket Board have barred trans women from women’s competitions.

However, campaigners have warned against acting before the implications of the ruling are clear. Charity Stonewall said organisations are making decisions “before the implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling have been worked through by lawyers and politicians or before statutory guidance has been issued”.