PA News
The NHS will be pursued if it does not follow new guidance on single-sex spaces, the chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said.
Along with other public bodies, the NHS will be receiving guidelines after the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.
“We’ve been speaking to the health service for an inordinately long time – we will now be asking them when they will be updating their advice,” Baroness Falkner said.
Currently the NHS guidance says trans people should be accommodated according to the way they dress, their names and their pronouns. Under the ruling this would be scrapped.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) says it is “working at pace” to provide an updated code of conduct for services, including the NHS and prisons, and it expects its updated guidance to be in place by the summer.
The ruling could have implications for spaces such as hospital wards, changing rooms and domestic refuges.
Asked on the BBC’s Today Programme whether the EHRC would pursue the NHS if it doesn’t change, the Baroness replied “yes we will”.
“We will be having those conversations with them to update that guidance,” she said.