Patients are being warned they could be found guilty of discrimination if they refuse care from a transgender medical professional, according to new NHS guidance.
Health chiefs have been told that patients have no right to be informed about a healthcare worker’s assigned sex at birth.
However, a report by NHS Confederation says transgender health workers can choose not to treat patients if they feel uncomfortable.
Patients can only request care from same-sex members of staff during specific circumstances, such as an intimate examination.
Patients can only request care from same-sex members of staff during specific circumstances
PA
The report - published earlier this month in partnership with the LGBT Foundation - states that when a patient requests an employee to be a woman or a man, “the comfort of the staff member should be prioritised”.
It continues to say: “the patient has no right to be told that the person treating them is trans or non-binary,” adding: “It would likely be discriminatory for the patient to refuse to be treated or cared for by a trans person, unless clear and evidenced clinical harm may result to the patient.”
The 97-page guide also states that patients with dementia “should still be challenged” if they express discriminatory views about transgender staff and their relatives “may be removed from the premises” if they do the same.
A non-binary medic can refuse to treat a patient, with the advice saying they: “should not be forced to deliver care if this would cause undue distress or invalidate their lived experience of gender”.
It comes as the NHS published its first equality, diversion and inclusion (EDI) plan.
Maya Forstater, executive director of campaign group Sex Matters, has criticised the document as "legally illiterate" and said it "encourages sexual assault by staff on patients".
"If a patient asks to be treated by a male or a female health care professional, that request may or may not be able to be met," she told the Daily Mail.
"But what no NHS trust should do is to tell a female patient that she will be seen by a female nurse or doctor, and then instead send a male staff member who identifies as a woman.
"The people who signed this off are willing to ignore the basic principle of consent, and respect for boundaries, in the name of gender ideology allyship."
The report states that when a patient requests an employee to be a woman or a man 'the comfort of the staff member should be prioritised'
PA
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of NHS Confederation, said: “This is a guide for our members on how they can be effective and active allies to their trans and nonbinary staff. It does not constitute formal policy for the NHS.
“Based on independent interpretations of equalities legislation and extensive engagement with our partners, the guide advises that if a patient requests to be seen by a NHS staff member with or without a particular protected characteristic, the healthcare provider would not be required under this or other legislation to comply with that.
“The exemption to that would be unless there would be a clinical need or benefit to do so, including around supporting the patient’s psychological wellbeing.
"As the guide says, there are likely to be extremely few circumstances in which this would happen and decisions would always be made on a case-by-case basis."
