Health and Care Bill

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 9th February 2022 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne]

297F: After Clause 148, insert the following new Clause—
“References to women inpatients
(1) An NHS Trust must not record or refer to women who—(a) have requested a sex-specific ward, or(b) have made a complaint to the relevant NHS Trust about being accommodated with inpatients who have undergone gender reassignment,in pejorative terms, including the term “transphobe”, on that ground alone. (2) An NHS Trust must not record women who have undertaken the action referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (1)(b) as having committed a non-crime hate incident on that ground alone.”

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, and I have grave concerns about the present single-sex ward provision which our two amendments seek to obviate. I have had the opportunity already to discuss this with the Minister himself—the noble Lord, Lord Kamall—and I am grateful for the opportunity he gave me also to meet with his officials. None the less, these two amendments address the very sensitive issue of hospital bed space allocation and hospital service provision for women.

Traditionally, female patients in the NHS and in private hospitals have been allocated beds in single-sex wards accommodating only women patients. Transgenderism —I speak as a woman—has undermined that provision, with the 2019 NHS guidance authorising self-selection of patient gender on arrival in hospitals, something neither enshrined in law nor backed by public demand, and overriding the exemption for hospital services in the Equality Act 2010. Yet Parliament and our Ministers have consistently declared that women both need and should have privacy, dignity and safety in their most vulnerable of situations, such as when sick or pregnant. As consistently, Ministers on all sides of both Houses have declared that this will be or already is the case.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Blencathra for bringing this discussion before the Committee and to my noble friend Lady Nicholson for taking the time to meet to discuss this issue, on which she is a strong advocate.

It clearly arouses strong feelings, but it is really important that we remember two principles: dignity and respect. There are people who feel they were born in the wrong body, and we should respect their rights as trans men or trans women; at the same time, there will be some women in wards who, on seeing someone who, to them, seems like a man, may feel slightly vulnerable at a particularly vulnerable time—in hospital. It is right that we get the right balance.

I hope noble Lords will be aware that NHS England is currently reviewing the Delivering Same-Sex Accommodation guidance to ensure that it remains focused on privacy, safety and dignity for all patients. The NHS is committed to meeting its duties under the Equality Act and, as such, needs to give due regard to both those whose gender identity is the same as their biological sex at birth and those whose gender identity is not. This means that the rights and needs of women and trans women are equal in law.

Following the review, the new content of the guidance will be informed by engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and by the statutory duties of the NHS outlined in the Equality Act 2010, including the public sector equality duty. NHS England is currently under- taking this review and is fully aware of its importance. The guidance, which will be updated if appropriate, is due to be published later this year. I call on noble Lords not to pre-empt the outcome of the guidance review. Any guidance will—indeed, must—be compatible with the requirements and duties placed on NHS bodies by the Equality Act 2010.

I am aware that concerns have been raised about the safety of women in single-sex wards. We, as a Government, believe that violence of any kind has no place in NHS facilities. We expect that hospital staff will act in the best interests of all patients and can, if necessary, call on security staff and law enforcement to ensure that everyone is safe. I repeat my request to my noble friend Lady Nicholson for evidence of such cases, whether it be women who feel uncomfortable or patients or staff who have raised concerns and been accused of being transphobic. If that is the case, I ask her to bring these cases to my attention and we can look at them further.

However, given that NHS England is currently reviewing the guidance, I hope noble Lords can appreciate the need to allow it time to review it in full. I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment.

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

I thank the Minister very much for his immensely helpful statement, while reminding him that the rights of another group do not supersede the rights of the group that is already there. In other words, it is not really worth listening to the simple comment, “Women and trans women are equal”. We are all equal under the law; we all have dignity and equal rights. My contention is that the dignity, privacy and safety of women patients, which have been fought over for several decades in both Houses, are now being diminished significantly and their health and recovery from illness significantly undermined by the imposition of new rights of others on top of women’s rights. It amuses me that no one is suggesting they should be on top of men’s rights.

This is, I am afraid, a matter of great concern to all women. I know that Members of other Benches have demanded evidence. I can guarantee that, within 24 hours, if you wish it, I can get 20,000 to 40,000 letters in front of the Minister claiming that women need privacy, safety and dignity, and that they are not receiving it with these new impositions. If noble Lords want evidence, feel free.

Covid-19 Update

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

On behalf of the whole House and the whole population, I congratulate the Minister on his magnificent work during the entirety of the pandemic and, of course, all his colleagues and everyone in the National Health Service. It has truly been a real world-beater and we are all so grateful. I have a matching point on Covid-19. I had understood, maybe wrongly, that males are affected slightly differently to females. Given that hospitals now accept self-identification of males and females, does this impact on the statistics or indeed on the treatment that everyone receives?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I understand the question put by my noble friend but I am afraid that I do not recognise the anecdote to which she refers in terms of hospitals’ treatment of individuals. Nor do I particularly recognise the generalisation that males and females are affected by the disease differently, but I would be very happy to look into this matter and write to her if I can find more details.

Women’s Health Outcomes

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

I welcome this important debate on women’s health. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin of Kennington, and thank her profoundly for her deep and permanent commitment to the health and welfare of girls and women.

Like her, I have worked overseas and on the ground as a volunteer on violence against girls and women and, specifically for this debate, on raped and tortured female victims. Indeed the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, and I were working on that together only 10 days ago for Yazidi victims. I seek our Government’s ongoing commitment to the plight of these most special girls and women, both here and in the war-torn nations where I work, above all others. These heavily damaged survivors of continuous rape by different but always violent males deserve the very best of surgical and general healthcare.

My praise for our NHS staff and volunteer rape crisis centre teams in Britain, all of whom treat raped girls and women with outstanding care and sensitivity, is unbounded. However, the natural growth of social concern for difference and our proper national commitment to greater inclusion has led to the appointment of natal males to tend to acutely female needs, such as intimate care for mentally challenged in-patient girls, and to lead staff posts in rape victim settings. I believe the noble Baroness will join me in examining these breaches of customary dignities afforded to women whose capacity is either limited since birth, accident or illness or has been compromised by rape or other indignities. Should they not be care for, nurtured and helped to live by fellow females? Common sense and parental requests suggest they surely should, yet that is not the case today. I urge the Minister, for whom I have the highest respect, to pay heed to research and take steps to correct this situation.

Heathrow Airport: Border Control Passenger Safety

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne Excerpts

Tuesday 25th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I do not have the statistic that the noble Baroness asked for, but I would be glad to write to her with it. The surge testing and vaccination in areas of VOC outbreak are now in many communities up and down the country that are not correlated with the presence of airports. They are distinct and specific to each of those communities: we work with the local DPH to ensure that the local outbreak plan is tailored to the needs of that community.

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

Can the Minister reassure his noble colleagues that sufficient attention is being paid by the already overworked Heathrow staff to heavily disabled passengers, such as Dr Ros Sinclair, who is a post-polio victim, with all that that implies? Although there is now a distinction between red and amber, highly vulnerable people will none the less suffer if amber lists and disabled passengers are merged. Is there any possibility of entirely separate lanes for those who are disabled?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the officials, Heathrow and the carriers for the provisions that they have put in place for those who have exceptional needs for travel. It is a truth that many people travel for health needs, and many must travel in order to address difficult circumstances that they may have. Therefore, it is entirely right that we put in place a system of exemptions and support for those who are either elderly or have some form of disability. My noble friend is entirely right that it is an unfortunate consequence of the administrative burden of red and amber processing at our ports that there are serious delays, and they fall most heavily on the vulnerable.

Puberty-blocker Drugs

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the noble Lord puts his point extremely well. I share his concern for those with trans or gender concerns of any kind. I reassure him that provision of gender identity services at all levels is an absolute priority for the NHS. In the recent court case, we have seen a clarification of the guidelines attributed to some of those services, but it in no way mitigates against or suggests a lack of commitment on the part of the NHS to such services.

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

Will the Minister confirm that since no baby can be born in the wrong body and human sex cannot be changed post- birth, the extensive plastic surgery, castration, double mastectomies and concomitant lifetime of heavy unnatural drug use that follow the introduction of puberty blockers are not the right way to assist a troubled child to gain mental stability and a contented and healthy future?

Covid-19: Vaccination Prioritisation

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I hear loud and clear the case for rough sleepers made by both the noble Baroness and my noble friend. The case was made to my colleague, my noble friend Lord Greenhalgh, as well. That is a really important part of the vaccination programme and we will look into the most effective way of doing it. On the noble Baroness’s second point, I am not aware of any moves to try to limit or create mandatory situations for vaccines within the four nations.

[Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)]

Might my noble friend consider setting up a network to catch and bring back into circulation those young people technically in care between the ages of 14 and 21 who have none the less been trafficked out of their unmonitored council care homes, given that the vaccination publicity is so enormous that they might well be able to be tempted back into life again?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, the vaccination holds the prospect of returning to some form of normality very quickly. It is exactly the kind of situation that my noble friend points out that will be most welcome. There are a large number of people in various types of care who have not been able to be looked after in the way that they might have been previously. It is extremely valuable that the vaccine will be able to return people to that kinds of support, which they both deserve and need.