Patients don't have the right to know if their medics are transgender, NHS ... trends now
Patients have no right to know if they are being treated by transgender medics and may be found guilty of discrimination if they refuse their care, NHS bosses have been told.
Patients can only request a same-sex staff member in limited circumstances, such as if they are having an intimate examination or if they are a victim of sexual violence, according to new guidance.
But the report from the NHS Confederation says: ‘A patient cannot request a different member of staff where there is no clear clinical benefit.’
The guide adds that there will be ‘extremely few circumstances’ in which ‘requesting not to be treated or assisted by a trans or non-binary person would be legally upheld’.
‘The patient has no right to be told that the person treating them is trans or non-binary,’ it says.
Patients have no right to know if they are being treated by transgender medics and may be found guilty of discrimination if they refuse their care, NHS bosses have been told
At the same time, it says trans and non-binary staff should be told of a patient’s request for a same-sex carer and asked if they feel comfortable treating them.
The ‘comfort of the staff member should be prioritised’ and a non-binary medic ‘should not be forced to deliver care if this would cause undue distress or invalidate their lived experience of gender’.
It says that people with dementia ‘should still be challenged’ if they express discriminatory views about transgender doctors or nurses, while their relatives may be ‘removed from the premises’ if they do the same.
The 97-page guide also includes a long lists of recommendations for hospitals and clinics to be more inclusive, such as flying the pride flag in offices, making staff wear rainbow badges and celebrating diversity dates in the calendar.
HR managers are told to list their pronouns in job adverts, relax employment experience requirements in case trans people are put off applying and give applicants private
