NHS urged to stop erasing women from cancer and pregnancy guidance

More than 1,000 clinicians have urged the NHS to restore the word ‘woman’ in online guidance on pregnancy and cancer.

In a letter signed by 1,200 doctors, nurses and health practitioners, they said the attempt to replace sex-specific language with gender-neutral terms is “discriminatory and could leave the NHS open to legal challenge”.

The signatories included four ex-NHS trust executives, the former President of the Royal College of Nursing and the former assistant Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

‘Insulting’

The clinicians said “the NHS must use women’s words for women’s bodies and women’s health problems”, saying its current “messaging shows a lack of concern for women, is disrespectful and insults” them.

At least 19 webpages on women’s health, including ovarian cancer, menopause and childbirth, do not mention women at all or refer to them in addition to gender-neutral terms such as “person” or “people”.

Previously, the guidance on ovarian cancer described it as “one of the most common types of cancer in women”. But now it claims: “Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer. This includes women, trans men, non-binary people and intersex people with ovaries.”

‘Real risks’

Dr Louise Irvine of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, which organised the letter, said: “These changes have occurred by stealth across the UK, over the past couple of years.”

She explained: “Our guiding principle as clinicians is ‘first do no harm’ and yet these underhanded, ideologically-driven changes in the NHS, which trump evidence-based healthcare, carry real risks and impact real lives.”

In response, an NHS spokesman stated: “The word ‘woman’ remains vital to healthcare information about women’s health and this issue is currently under review.”

these underhanded, ideologically-driven changes in the NHS, which trump evidence-based healthcare, carry real risks and impact real lives

Pregnancy

Last year, a Scottish hospital trust announced that twelve-year-old boys may be asked if they are pregnant.

NHS Tayside put up posters stating that all patients between the ages of 12 and 55 — both men and women — may have to complete paperwork to indicate “whether there is a possibility of pregnancy”.

In April, The Walton Centre in Liverpool reportedly asked men as well as women if they were pregnant before they underwent radiotherapy or had an MRI scan, following the introduction of a ‘gender neutral’ policy.