The U.K.’s National Health Services (NHS) will update its constitution to define sex as biological sex, the agency announced Tuesday.
“We are defining sex as biological sex,” the NHS states in a portion of their proposed changes to the constitution that sets guidance about patients receiving “intimate care” from doctors of the same sex.
The NHS constitution is updated every 10 years by the U.K.’s Secretary of State and was last updated in 2015, according to The Telegraph.
Our plans to update the NHS Constitution put privacy, dignity and safety at the heart of the NHS, balancing the rights and needs of all patients to make a healthcare system that is faster, simpler and fairer for all.https://t.co/BRMdGrXhZd
— Victoria Atkins (@VictoriaAtkins) April 30, 2024
The updated constitution stressed the need for “respecting the biological differences between men and women.”
“If these biological differences are not considered or respected, there is the potential for unintended adverse health consequences,” the new constitution stated.
The new constitution also stressed the importance of clear language. The emphasis on clear language indicates a reversal of a 2021 NHS policy, which instructed medical practitioners to use terms like “chestfeeding” in lieu of gender-specific terms like breastfeeding. (RELATED: Red State Judge Temporarily Blocks Ban On Sex-Change Surgeries For Minors)
Previous NHS guidance stated trans patients could be placed in wards based on the gender they identified with. according to The Telegraph. The updated guidance now says “Patients should not have to share sleeping accommodation with patients of the opposite sex” and “Women in mental health units should have access to women-only day spaces.”
The new constitution does still allow for special accommodations for trans patients, noting transgender patients could be “provided with a single room in a hospital setting (provided other clinical priorities are considered).”
The changes come in the wake of the Cass Review, a bombshell report commissioned by the NHS which found “weak evidence” for the efficacy of puberty blockers, among other things.
The NHS banned puberty blockers for children, except in a research setting, in March following a recommendation from the Cass Review.