A new report by Policy Exchange today exposes a letter written by North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) that states the Trust will not guarantee same-sex intimate care for patients, putting staff preferences above the needs of patients. This is despite the trust’s biggest hospital recording up to 30 sexual assaults against females having taken place on hospital property.

The report highlights the fact that NBT’s policies are unlikely to be isolated, given national NHS guidance also fails to prioritise patient safety and privacy, as it dismisses sex-based rights in its 2019 same-sex accommodation policy Delivering same-sex accommodation. Annex B of the guidance compromises sex-based rights because it specifies that it is self-identified gender – not sex – that determines where transgender adults and ‘gender variant’ children should be accommodated.

In a foreword, women’s rights activist Nimco Ali OBE highlights the importance of same-sex intimate care and same-sex intimate spaces for women. Despite the fact that the law explicitly references same-sex hospital wards as a legitimate reason to discriminate on the basis of sex, a biological male retaining his full physiological makeup, and who does not plan to acquire a gender recognition certificate (GRC) or undergo surgery, can self-identify as female and be accommodated on a female ward.

The report also highlights the wider context and climate on the sex and gender debate within the NHS. The NHS is increasingly becoming influenced by gender identity ideology, which disregards the realities and immutability of biological sex. This is being done in the absence of democratic consensus and with very little understanding for the consequences for patient safety and rights, particularly the rights of women and children.