NHS tells women 'unacceptable' not to share toilets with trans people

Women are ‘transphobic’ if they do not want to share a bathroom with a transgender colleague, NHS staff have been told.

Mandatory training introduced in August for NHS England employees also claimed that ‘people’ rather than women or mothers become pregnant and take maternity leave.

Another passage suggested that it is discriminatory for nurses or doctors to pray for unwell patients.

Women’s rights campaigners wrote to NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard to criticise the ‘partisan and ideological’ training and demand that it be amended earlier this month.

Last night, after being contacted by the Mail, the NHS admitted that it has since withdrawn the training module and that it will be replaced ‘in the next few weeks’. 

The 23-page document - titled ‘Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights Skills’ - stated that ‘all staff, including off payroll workers, are obliged to complete the modules’.

The training manual, which included five ‘case studies’, required staff to answer ten multiple-choice questions to test whether they are discriminatory.

In one section headed ‘transphobic colleague’, it gives an example of a member of NHS staff who does not wish to share a bathroom with a trans person.

The document states that this is ‘not acceptable’ and that asking whether trans staff can instead use gender-neutral or disabled toilets could constitute ‘illegal harassment’.

It adds: ‘It is always an individual’s choice to use whichever facilities match how they identify.’

The document was shared with the Mail by an NHS worker concerned about the training but who said they were under pressure from bosses to complete it.

The whistleblower revealed: ‘Passing this training is required in order to progress your pay and career, and ultimately even to be employed by NHS England.

‘For all the supposed commitment to “diversity”, if you don’t agree with the ideology of a dominant clique, you either have to lie or leave.’

In another section of the document it includes ‘pregnancy and maternity’ among a list of protected characteristics, but fails to use the words woman or mother.

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It reads: ‘People are protected against discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity during the period of their pregnancy and any statutory maternity leave.’

Meanwhile in another of the ‘case studies’, NHS staff are given a real example of a community nurse who offered to pray for an unwell patient because they were ‘concerned about her welfare and wanted her to get better’.

NHS employees are told that this was unacceptable and that the nurse was reprimanded for failing to demonstrate a ‘personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity’ by expressing her faith.

The document further said that by promoting ‘equality and diversity’ the NHS ‘will bring great advantage to the workforce, the wider NHS and the population we serve’, adding: ‘Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the values of NHS England.’

It comes as the health service is facing a number of employment tribunals from current or former employees over its gender policies.

This includes a group of female nurses in Darlington who are bringing a claim of sex discrimination against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after allegedly being forced to share the women’s changing room with a trans nurse.

Women’s rights campaigners wrote to NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard on October 7 to criticise the training and demand that it was urgently reviewed.

In the letter seen by the Mail, Maya Forstater, chief executive of human rights charity Sex Matters, said: ‘The training in respect of sex, gender reassignment and belief discrimination conflicts with and in some places actively contradicts the law.

‘It is partisan and ideological, and it puts NHSE at risk of undertaking mass discrimination and harassment.

‘We call on you to recall and review the training to ensure that it is in line with the law and with your responsibilities under the public-sector equality duty and the Human Rights Act.’

Last night the NHS admitted that it had removed the training module since receiving this letter, although would not say when. The training will be updated in the coming weeks, it said.

A spokesman added: ‘This guidance is out of date and has already been removed as new training is being developed. We are determined that all women who work and receive care in the NHS are treated with dignity and respect.’