(CP) – Hospitals in the United Kingdom are allowing male patients to stay in women-only wards so long as they identify as female — a policy that has angered many women’s rights activists and patients. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has revealed that none of the National Health Service trusts in England require patients to have already begun the process of their physical sex transition in order to stay in women-only hospital wards. Such a policy exists despite the Department of Health’s rules
stating that “men and women should not have to share sleeping accommodation or toilet/bathroom facilities.” However, the rule has exceptions in cases “where it is in the overall best interests of the patient or reflects the patient’s choice.” The Daily Telegraph reports that the NHS is not able to track how many trans-identified patients are accommodated in wards meant for the opposite biological sex because the patients are recorded in the system under their preferred gender identity, not their actual biological sex. READ MORE
