NHS midwives forced to fill out 'farcical' form with no option to record biological sex

Staff at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust were "shocked" to find during a training session for the Epic software system that there was no option to record a baby's biological sex on registration forms, a whistleblower told The Mail on Sunday.

The form instead asks healthcare staff to jot down infants' legal sex, sex assigned at birth and gender identity alongside the time and date.

A midwife, who asked to remain anonymous, said colleagues are "worried" by the forms but do not want to raise the issue with NHS managers.

Women's rights advocates have criticised the health service for being "in thrall" to gender identity ideology, arguing its software could potentially provide misleading information to newborns for life.

The US software is understood to have thrown in options to appease trans rights activists, which is being used in at least 10 NHS trusts.

Fiona McAnena, from campaign group Sex Matters, hit out at the measures.

She said: "Trusts can and do customise this software; they could easily remove anything that might get in the way of accurate information and good healthcare.

"This is an example of how harmful transgender ideology can be.

"The concept of babies having a gender identity is farcical, but sex is essential medical information.

"Trusts have chosen to include ludicrous software elements, such as babies' gender identity and pronouns."

In 2023, midwives at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital and King's College Hospital in London could only select a "gender identity" when filling out newborn discharge forms in the Epic system.

NHS officials explained that a "system error" was behind this issue and that the technology would be modified to record biological sex exclusively.

However, the most recent incident indicates that these problems are still unresolved.

The Torbay midwife said: "Why on earth hasn't this form been adapted to be appropriate for a newborn?

"I hope that common sense will prevail and nobody would try to fill in those boxes. Unfortunately, common sense doesn't seem to be in good supply.

"These are not mandatory fields. But this is the backbone of documentation that will follow babies for life. It's proof the baby exists and is needed to get a birth certificate. The fact that it's asking for assigned sex at birth is worrying."

One Devon, responsible for implementing the Epic software at University Hospitals Plymouth and Torbay Trust and South Devon Foundation Trust, said: "The system has a template when registering new patients, including newborns.

"When creating a newborn's record, the only data the system is configured to require is date of birth and legal sex."

GB News approached NHS England for comment.

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