Nurses and midwives could face being struck off for intentionally mis-gendering patients.
Guidelines from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) regulator tells medics how they can ‘express their beliefs appropriately’ and when they run the risk of a sanction.
Under its latest update, it includes one example where a midwife who believes the Government is destroying the health service shares their opinion at a dinner.
Regulators would only take action if said midwife vowed to treat patients differently based on their political views.
The NMC guidance was recently highlighted in a video posted by midwife and NMC panellist Dr Sally Pezaro whos aid the nurse in question was ‘fundamentally incorrect because it has been proven that you can change your sex and your gender’
But another example shared in the latest update has sparked concerns that sanctions could be dished out to nurses and midwives who address trans patients with the wrong pronouns.
In the hypothetical scenario, one nurse is described as deliberately misgendering a trans patient attending a diabetes clinic.
Despite the patient repeatedly asking the nurse to address them by their ‘correct’ gender, the medic refuses to do so, resulting in a formal complaint.
When the employer then confronts the nurse about her behaviour, she states that she was ‘acting in accordance with her belief that human beings cannot change their sex or gender’.
The NMC concludes it would likely take action against the nurse for this act, though does not specify the exact penalty.
‘Persistently and deliberately misgendering a trans person is contrary to the requirements of the code to treat people with kindness and respect,’ the guidance reads.
‘Although gender-critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act, this does not mean that those with gender-critical beliefs can “misgender” trans persons with impunity.’
Nurses and midwives could be sanctioned for mis-gendering patients as part of believing people can’t change their biological sex, according to new UK guidance (stock image)
The NMC has the power to strike nurses and midwives off its register, barring them from working in the UK.
However, this is typically only dished out for severe breaches, such as a registrant having been found guilty of heinous crimes, or severely lacking the necessary skills to look after patients safely.
In other cases, the NMC can temporarily suspend nurses and midwives from working or require them to be directly supervised by another professional at work.
Organisations critical of the creep of gender-neutral language in the health sector have taken issue with the NMC’s example, as well as framing the observation of the reality of a patient’s biological sex as a ‘belief’.
Stella O’Malley, psychotherapist and director of medical campaign group Genspect, said it was ‘extremely concerning’ language that could leave the NMC open to legal challenges.
She told MailOnline: ‘Professionals, especially those working in healthcare where mis-sexing a person could have catastrophic implications, need to have the right to clarify and even highlight a person’s sex.
‘For example, if a transman presents with stomach aches, the nurse might need to ascertain whether the transman, who is biologically female, could be pregnant.’
She added that the regulator needed to ‘protect’ the freedom to clarify important medical facts to keep patients safe.
‘While a person’s gender identity might be important for some people’s sense of self, their biological sex can be a matter of life and death within a hospital setting,’ she said.
Ms O’Malley also slammed the NMC for framing biological sex as a ‘belief’.
She said: ‘The NMC are incorrect to state that it is a ‘”belief” that humans are incapable of changing sex.’
‘This is akin to saying it is a “belief” that water is wet.
‘This is a fact, no person in the history of the world has changed sex – many have changed their gender identity but no one has changed sex.’
Shelley Charlesworth, spokesperson for Transgender Trend, a campaign group concerned about the sharp rise in young people changing gender, also told this website she was worried by the NMC’s language.
She said: ‘Nurses and midwives need to understand how male and female bodies differ and what that means for their patients’ treatment.
‘They should never be penalised for that knowledge or for speaking and acting on it.’
The NMC guidance was recently highlighted in a video posted by midwife and NMC panellist Dr Sally Pezaro, a professional who rules on cases where nurses and midwives are sent to the regulator for a possible sanction.
The midwife, who has previously stated that ‘it’s not only women who give birth’, discussed the NMC example of the nurse mis-gendering a patient on TikTok.
She said: ‘They’re fundamentally incorrect because it has been proven that you can change your sex and your gender.’
Responding to Dr Pezaro’s video Ms Charlesworth said: ‘It is very worrying that a panellist who sits on the board judging nurses and midwives’ fitness to practice makes statements which are not based on scientific fact.’
Professor Jenny Gamble, a midwifery expert from Coventry University, told MailOnline the NMC guidance itself wasn’t the problem and nurses who ‘deliberately and repeatedly’ upset patients should naturally face investigation from the regulator.
However, she added there was an issue with the regulator’s framing of the ‘belief’ in sex.
Critics have taken issue with the Nursing and Midwifery Council published new guidelines framing the observation of biological sex as a ‘belief’ and say the regulator should issue a clarification (stock image)
She said: ‘It would be clearer and more useful if the example of the registered nurse deliberately and repeatedly misgendering a person did not introduce the “belief” about sex in addition to the comment about gender.
‘Confusion abounds about the difference between sex, a reproductive category, gender, a societal role, and gender identity, an inner sense of self. They are not synonymous.’
Professor Gamble added the NMC may need to issue a clarification on what this means, as recording the sex of the patient was a critical safety issue.
‘Accurately recording sex is a safety and quality care issue and not a matter of freedom of expression,’ she said.
‘NMC may need a position statement on the requirement to accurately record sex in all health care settings.
‘Respectful communication is essential in health care and referring to individuals according to their preferences is part of respectful care, however this should not extend to inaccurately documenting a person’s sex. It is too risky to do so.’
Responding to concerns, Matthew McClelland, the NMC’s executive director of strategy and insight, said: ‘From time to time, people raise concerns with us about protected beliefs and freedom of expression.
‘When we review these, it’s very important we take a consistent approach that reflects the law.
‘The updated guidance is rooted in the law, and helps our colleagues to reach swift and fair decisions in fitness to practise cases.
‘It makes it clear that people have a right to freedom of expression and to protected beliefs but that there may be some circumstances when what a nurse, midwife, or nursing associate says, and importantly how they say it, could impact their fitness to practise.’
It is impossible for people to change their sex, which is determined at conception.
In extremely rare cases, people can be born intersex — which might mean they have a combination of male female traits.
People can change their gender identity over the course of their life, but this doesn’t change their sex.
Even surgery to make parts of a person’s reproductive anatomy match the opposite sex does not overwrite biological sex.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Daily M
