The health department is considering reversing reverse guidance on terms like “breastfeeding” to provide hospitals with clear language based on biological sex.
Terms like “breastfeeding” and referring to “people with ovaries” instead of “women” could change under the new plans.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins will announce proposed changes to the NHS Constitution this week, the Telegraph reported.
A new version of the Constitution was drafted to ensure the protection of spaces reserved for women.
Under these proposals, trans women cannot be treated in single-sex services.
This is a change from previous NHS guidance which allowed trans patients to be placed on single-sex wards based on the gender they identify with.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (pictured) will announce proposed changes to the NHS Constitution this week.
Terms like “breastfeeding” and referring to “people with ovaries” instead of “women” could change under the new plans. (Stock image)
The proposals would also give patients more power to request a doctor of the same biological sex as them when it comes to “intimate care,” while trans patients would have their own private spaces where hospitals could provide them.
Under the new NHS Constitution, the importance of “sex-specific” language could be highlighted.
It comes after mentions of women were removed from cervical and ovarian cancer health pages in order to be more “inclusive” in 2022.
MailOnline previously reported how old NHS information on ovarian cancer read: “Ovarian cancer, or ovarian cancer, is one of the most common types of cancer in women. »
It also states: “Ovarian cancer mainly affects postmenopausal women (usually aged over 50), but it can sometimes affect younger women.”
However, in 2022, both lines were removed and another line was added: “Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer, but it mainly affects people over 50.” »
It now reads: “Ovarian cancer affects the ovaries. It mainly affects women over 50 years old.
“It can affect anyone who has ovaries.”
Former Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced plans for the changes at the Conservative Party conference last year.
He said: “If we fail to do this now, the long-term consequences could be very serious for the protection of women and future generations. »
The proposals come after the Daily Mail revealed “shocking” NHS rules which mean patients who only occasionally identify as women can share female-only wards.
This is regardless of whether they have undergone surgery or have legally changed their sex.
The constitution is updated every ten years, most recently in 2015.
The new text will be subject to an eight-week consultation.
A government source said: “The government has made it clear that biological sex matters and that women and girls have the right to the protection and privacy they need in all health care settings .
“The proposed updates will give patients the right to request same-sex intimate care and accommodation to protect their safety, privacy and dignity.”
The proposals would also give patients more power to request a doctor of the same biological sex as them when it comes to “intimate care,” while trans patients would have their own private spaces where hospitals could provide them.
Former Health Secretary Steve Barclay (pictured) announced his plans for the changes at the Conservative Party conference last year.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of campaign group Sex Matters, told the Telegraph: “These much-needed changes to the NHS constitution will help ensure essential sex-based rights in healthcare across England.
“Clear language, single-sex services and access to intimate care provided by a healthcare professional of the same gender are essential to the well-being and safety of female patients.”
In 2021, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust unveiled new ‘gender-inclusive’ phrases in a bid to stamp out ‘mainstream transphobia’.
Other changes included replacing the use of the word “woman” with the phrase “woman or person”, and the term “father” with “parent”, “co-parent” or “second biological parent”, depending on the circumstances. .
MailOnline has contacted the NHS and Department of Health and Social Care for comment.
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