Hospitals urged to change rules on trans people in single-sex wards

Transgender women cannot use single-sex female toilets, changing rooms or compete in women’s sports following a landmark Supreme Court ruling, the head of Britain’s equalities watchdog said. Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chairwoman, vowed to pursue organisations that do not update their policies after Britain’s highest court decided transgender women are not legally women.

She said Wednesday’s verdict was “enormously consequential” and brought clarity. Despite this, on Thursday health minister Karin Smyth refused to say which changing room a trans person should use. Baroness Falkner said: “Single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex.

“If a male person is allowed to use a women-only service or facility, it isn’t any longer single-sex, then it becomes a mixed-sex space.

“But I have to say, there’s no law that forces organisations, service providers, to provide a single-sex space, and there is no law against them providing a third space, an additional space, such as unisex toilets for example, or changing rooms.”

She suggested trans rights organisations “should be using their powers of advocacy to ask for those third spaces”.

The ruling that the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex” means transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if “proportionate”, the Supreme Court said.

The NHS, along with other public bodies, will be receiving guidelines, following the unanimous ruling.

"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.

But this would now be scrapped under the judgment.

Ms Smyth said that only females should use a women’s changing room but was unclear about how a trans person should adapt their behaviour.

Ms Smyth was asked on Times Radio which changing room a trans woman should use if previously they used a female changing room.

“A female changing room should be used by women,” she said.

Pressed again on where a trans woman should get changed, Ms Smyth said it was “important that a trans woman or a trans man also has dignity in their use of public spaces”.

She added: “We need to make sure that in this discussion we are following the law — so that is clear for women and service providers.

“This varies [depending] upon what the provision of those service providers are — large organisations, small organisations.”

Ms Smyth said: “Some of them have unisex provisions. There might only be one bathroom, one changing room in an organisation. It’s a large, complex issue so that’s why people have to be very clear on that guidance.”

There was also confusion over whether trans women should be allowed onto female-only wards in hospitals.

When asked in a separate interview if it would be discriminatory for a trans woman to be placed in a male-only ward, Ms Smyth did not specify and said doctors would treat people based on their clinical needs.

The EHRC said it is "working at pace" to provide an updated code of conduct for services, including the NHS and prisons - which is expected to be in place by summer

An NHS spokesman said the service was "reviewing guidance on same sex accommodation" and as part of this process "will consider and take into account all relevant legislation and the Supreme Court ruling".

A GRC, a legal document that recognises an individual's gender identity, will now not change a person's legal sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.

Baroness Falkner said the next stage of litigation may well be tests of the efficacy of GRCs.

Asked about whether she thought GRCs were now “worthless”, she replied: “We don’t believe they are. We think they’re quite important.”