NHS backtracks on woke training that attacks prayer and gender-critical views

NHS England has ditched woke training that branded prayer “unacceptable” and labelled people concerned about sharing single-sex spaces “transphobic”.

The compulsory course titled ‘Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights Skills’ was introduced in August for all staff to complete.

A spokesman stated the NHS is revising the training following a letter this month from women’s rights campaigners to NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard which called for it to be changed urgently.

‘Lie or leave’

In a section titled “transphobic colleague”, the course presented a case study of a member of staff who did not want to share a bathroom with a trans person. It said it could be “illegal harassment” to ask the colleague who identifies as transgender to use a gender-neutral toilet.

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.”

‘Partisan and ideological’

Another case study showcased a nurse who offered to pray for a patient. The content claimed this was a failure to demonstrate a “personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity”.

Chief Executive of women’s rights charity Sex Matters, Maya Forstater, said: “The training in respect of sex, gender reassignment and belief discrimination conflicts with and in some places actively contradicts the law.”

She added: “It is partisan and ideological, and it puts NHSE at risk of undertaking mass discrimination and harassment.”

Biological reality

In the section titled “pregnancy and maternity” there is no mention of the words mother or woman.

NHS GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp commented: “Of the many correspondences and conversations I have with my patients, a very common gripe with the NHS is the eradication of the word ‘mother’ in favour of ‘person’”.

She explained: “To take the word ‘mother’ away is not a progressive act, it is a way of disempowering women. It is its own act of misogyny.”