NHS Scotland drops diktat to ‘validate bearded men who claim to be women’

An order compelling NHS Scotland staff to use the ‘preferred pronouns’ of male colleagues who identify as women has been dropped.

Internal training material provided by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) said that staff had a legal duty “to use the correct name and pronouns” for fellow workers who claim to be women, even if they are “still producing facial hair”.

But after NES was approached about the material, The Times reports, it removed the statement.

‘Thought control’

Scottish Conservatives MSP Stephen Kerr described the module as “ludicrous”. He added: “It is absolutely nonsensical to demand that staff and patients ignore biological reality and participate in an enforced illusion.

“This kind of thought control has no place in a rational, professional healthcare setting, where clear communication, trust and biological facts are critical to patient care and workplace cohesion.”

An NES spokesman said the change had been made following a recent statement by the Equality and Human Rights Committee (EHRC).

Tribunal

Last month, the EHRC wrote to Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray, reminding him of the watchdog’s role in enforcing Equality Act compliance across Britain in relation to the provision of single-sex services and spaces.

The intervention followed the case of experienced nurse Sandie Peggie who was reprimanded, investigated, and suspended for months after she objected to sharing NHS Fife’s female changing rooms with Dr Upton, a man who purports to be a woman.

Fife’s HR department – in the name of ‘inclusivity’ and respecting someone’s self-declared gender identity – defended the right of the male-bodied doctor to be present while Mrs Peggie and other female members of staff changed for work.

In May 2024, Sandie Peggie brought an action before an employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Upton for sexual harassment and for discrimination over her recognition of biological reality. The case is set to resume in July.