NHS: Single-sex Provision for Staff and Patients

Lord Kamall Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am sorry to hear of the noble Baroness’s experience, which I have heard her speak of before. To me, as I said earlier, it points to the need to treat people with respect, with dignity and without making assumptions. I cannot emphasise enough the need for sensitivity and respect, which applies to everybody.

While we are talking about changing facilities, we should think about the huge difference in shops over the years. There used to be communal changing rooms, but you would be hard pushed to find them now. People have private spaces for changing and this again applies to everybody. I recognise the challenge of the NHS estate, of course, but I am talking about creative solutions and working with staff to get to where we need to be.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right to talk about dealing with this issue very sensitively, by respecting people’s dignity and acting with compassion. However, some NHS staff and patients—the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, referred to this—have asked for single-sex provisions to protect their privacy and dignity. If the Government are planning further guidance, how do they intend to achieve that difficult trade-off and balance in potential conflicts between single-sex provisions for NHS staff and patients and the rights of individuals under the Equality Act 2010, while respecting their dignity and acting with compassion?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises an interesting point. In all cases with guidance, that is always the balance we seek to reach. I am also interested in the history of this, and I am sure the noble Lord will remember that the 2019 guidance on trans patients in single-sex spaces proved somewhat controversial, if I might put it that way. The guidance was meant to be updated under the last Government, but this did not happen. I am advised that it was delayed by a dispute between the previous Government and NHS England, which also delayed proposed updates to the NHS constitution. These again were consulted on under the last Government—which was a good thing—but nothing actually happened. So all these come to us as a new Government and will be given full consideration to get us into the right place.