An Epic crisis is unfolding in the NHS
Since October, several NHS trusts in England have been using new £450 million NHS patient-data software produced by US-based IT company Epic Systems. This has been programmed by local teams to record the “gender identity” of babies. For adults, the system has been programmed to register patients according to their “legal sex” rather than their actual sex, and to record men and women who don’t express a trans identity as “cisgender”. It asks medical staff to complete “organ inventories” of the reproductive features of all patients.
The new electronic patient record software was launched at the start of October at hospitals including King’s College Hospital, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. It is also being used by Frimley Health NHS Trust and several other hospitals across London and England.
On 26th November, the Mail on Sunday reported that a whistleblowing midwife had evidence that babies were being registered according to “gender identity” on discharge forms under the new system at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, and King’s College Hospital, which Sex Matters’ Maya Forstater called “absurd and chilling”.
In response to the journalist’s questions, NHS managers blamed a “system error”, saying that the system would be altered so that babies are registered according to their sex. Following up on the story, The Telegraph was told by the NHS that babies will be registered by their “legal sex”. Maya was quoted as saying that the response from NHS managers was disingenuous at best and would do nothing to quell widespread concern and outrage.
When launching the software in early October, the hospitals said the system design had involved “years of detailed planning by hundreds of teams from both Trusts”, and that the launch had been mapped out “to the last detail”. It is scandalous, therefore, to pretend that the recording of anyone’s “gender identity” – including that of babies and children – was an oversight.
After seeing the news on the discharge forms for babies, a doctor reported to The Telegraph on 27th November that the new “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SmartForm”, which will form part of adult patients’ electronic records on the system, contained several disturbing features.
Sex Matters saw a screenshot of the form shared by the whistleblower on 27th November, and we have produced an identical copy in the form of a graphic to protect their identity and to improve legibility.
On the form, patients are registered according to their “legal sex” rather than their actual sex.
There are default settings for men and women as “cisgender” if they do not express a trans identity. As reported by The Telegraph, the form asks for information on a patient’s sexual orientation, gender, sex assigned at birth, preferred pronouns, if they have transitioned, to what extent, and what future plans they have, if any, to change gender.
Staff are then asked to fill in an “organ inventory”, including “organs the patient currently has”, “organs present at birth”, “organs surgically enhanced or constructed” and “organs hormonally enhanced”.
Under each section is a list of possible organs to add, including penis, vagina, uterus, cervix, breasts, prostate, testes and ovaries. Healthcare staff then have to click “add” on the relevant organs to specify which genitalia the patient has, and at which point they were acquired.
A spokesperson for Epic Systems said documentation templates are configured locally for each hospital’s system.
As Helen Joyce said in The Telegraph, this anti-scientific fringe ideology has been imported wholesale from America. Activists within the NHS have attempted to impose it on the UK’s healthcare system by stealth. What they are trying to do is incredibly dangerous, and will damage patient care. It’s also anti-democratic, since it’s being presented to NHS users as a fait accompli.
The fact that healthcare employees have not felt able to raise concerns about a grossly flawed new process shows the extent of the fear that now dominates NHS workplace environments, thanks to gender-ideology indoctrination.
Professor Alice Sullivan of UCL has been commissioned by the government to review sex data in the public sector. It is essential that this review sorts out the mess and confusion across healthcare, education, tax and benefits, passports and the justice system, instead of leaving individual agencies to decide not to record sex. In the meantime, in order to protect patient safety and well-being, the Health Secretary Victoria Atkins needs to immediately insist that data concerning sex, not gender identity, is recorded and used right across the NHS.
Sex Matters is hosting a webinar on sex-based language matters in healthcare tomorrow evening – Thursday 30th November – and it is still possible to register to attend.
Helen will touch on what has been unfolding in the NHS in recent days, but the focus of the webinar will be a discussion with Karleen Gribble of Western Sydney University and Elaine Miller, aka @GussieGrips, a Scottish physiotherapist and comedian. They will talk about the harmful trend of erasing sex-based language when talking about women in health and social care, and in associated public messaging and research. The webinar will be recorded, and the day after the event you’ll find the recording on our website and our YouTube channel.