Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to strengthen the privacy and dignity of female patients in NHS hospitals.

The Government is committed to upholding the rights of women and girls and ensuring they are properly represented in healthcare services, communications, and guidance.

That is why we are currently consulting on updates to the NHS Constitution for England to shape the principles and values of the National Health Service and ensure the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients, including women, are embedded in how it operates.

Our proposed changes to the NHS Constitution reinforce the NHS’s commitment to providing single-sex wards and will empower patients to request that intimate care is carried out by someone of the same biological sex, where reasonably possible.