An NHS hospital trust drafted guidance proposing extra breaks for transgender staff who wear chest binders or tuck their genitals, but has since dropped the proposals following criticism and the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex.
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust (UH Sussex) had drawn up draft guidance that said trans colleagues “may require extra scheduled breaks in their shift in order to have breaks from binding and tucking”.
The 15-page document, written by employees in the trust’s LGBTQ+ staff network last year, was sent to other groups for consultation.
However, the trust confirmed the proposals were put on hold in February and would not be pursued following the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Equality Act referred to biological women and biological sex.
Chest binding involves women wearing clothing to compress their breasts to appear more masculine, whilst tucking requires pushing male genitalia between the legs to create a more feminine appearance.
The proposed policy also included provisions for women-only spaces to accommodate trans women.
It advised staff to understand the impact of cross-sex hormones on transgender colleagues and their mood fluctuations.
The document suggested that testosterone could cause lower energy levels and mood changes towards the end of medication cycles, while feminising hormones might similarly affect mood and energy levels during dosage adjustments.
Dr Alice Hodkinson, a co-founder of Biology in Medicine, said people binding or tucking were “risking medical and psychological harm”.
She explained that tucking male genitals “between the buttocks can cause pain, inflammation, fertility problems and testicular torsion”, while “binding can cause chest and spine deformities, cysts, infections and difficulties breathing”.
Dr Hodkinson warned that testicular torsion “is a surgical emergency requiring an immediate operation to preserve fertility and sexual function”.
One former employee at the trust said: “If we’re going to make allowances for people who have to use the toilets to change and do this, that and the other, should we not be making allowances for women with heavy periods, or people who have to pray three times a day?
“Why are we making allowances for one group of staff over everyone else?”
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, described the proposals as “disgraceful coming from a healthcare body”.
She said the guidance for “employees who are self-harming in pursuit of the impossible goal of sex change should never have made it onto paper, even as a draft”.
A spokesman for UH Sussex said: “This draft paper is not trust policy or guidance, it never has been, and never will be.
“A colleague submitted it to a manager in February for consideration, but it was not accepted.”