The Shocking NHS Trans Report That Shows How Deep the Rot Runs

The Telegraph recently exposed some very shoddy research done by the LGBT Foundation for NHS England.

Derived from the experiences of just 121 self-identified “trans and non-binary users” of maternity services in England, whose experiences the LGBT Foundation then misrepresented, the NHS came close to implementing staff training based on the report’s recommendations. According to the Telegraph:

The 121 respondents to an LGBT Foundation survey had given birth over a 30-year period, with many not even actually presenting as trans or non-binary during their pregnancy.
But based on their survey responses, the LGBT Foundation said that “30%” of the trans and non-binary service users had received “no care at all” during their pregnancy. Yet elsewhere in the same survey, 82% said they had received antenatal care.
Nevertheless, the LGBT Foundation used the 30% claim to suggest that pregnant trans and non-binary people were “being put at risk” by the NHS. That’s quite an accusation.
On the back of research as flimsy, as flawed as this, the LGBT Foundation urged maternity services to consider using more ‘inclusive’ language such as “chestfeeding” and suggested implementing “visible markers of inclusion such as posters, badges, including name badges with pronouns, and lanyards”.

LGBT Foundation also seems to have had a complete disregard for the impact of its recommendations on the 99.9% of other service users.

A full critique of the “unreliable and invalid” study can be found here outlining its “methodological issues, biased assumptions and unsubstantiated recommendations”.

An excoriating review of the flawed data and lack of evidence that was used to promote “inclusive” language in maternity services.

If not for pushback from clinicians the NHS would have spent £100k on the basis of an “unreliable and invalid” ‘study’ https://t.co/tT8YTSBUwq

— Medical Journalists’ Association (@mjauk) September 3, 2023

NHS England initially announced plans to spend £100,000 on staff training based on the report. It only changed its mind following a petition by clinicians expressing concerns. Astonishingly, the CEO of the LGBT Foundation continues to defend the report saying: “We’re very proud of our research which sets out clearly – and for the first time – trans and non-binary people’s experiences of maternity care.”

This exposure of the LGBT Foundation’s disregard for rigour in its research or balance in its recommendations matters. Because, as outlined by Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail last week, the same LGBT Foundation is currently bossing around dozens and dozens of NHS Trusts across England via something called the Rainbow Badge Scheme.