Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to NHS trusts on the provision of the same-sex staffing for patients receiving intimate care.

The Department is considering whether clearer guidance is needed on the provision of same-sex staffing for patients receiving intimate care. Guidance by the Care Quality Commission states that “When providing intimate or personal care, provider must make every reasonable effort to make sure that they respect people's preferences about who delivers their care and treatment, such as requesting staff of a specified gender/sex.” The guidance can be found at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/regulations-enforcement/regulation-10-dignity-respect