NHS England is about to roll out its Maternity Gender Inclusion Programme

Urgent action needed

NHS England is about to implement its Maternity Gender Inclusion Programme. This programme is based on flawed research, is not peer reviewed, has had no impact assessment and seeks to erase sex-based language around pregnancy and birth.

With Woman @WeAreWithWoman

Open letter: Pause £100k midwifery training based on flawed research into trans maternity experiences. No impact assessment. No peer reviewed evidence base. No published pilot project evaluation.

with-woman.orgOpen letter: Pause £100k midwifery training based on flawed research into trans maternity experiencesPlease sign our letter to the NHS England National LGBT Programme

With Woman is a campaign group comprised of healthcare professionals and activists focused on the pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding concerns of women.

They have organised an open letter to Lizzie Streeter, NHS England National LGBT Programme Manager, requesting that this heavily flawed programme be paused.

With Woman @WeAreWithWoman

NHS England plan to roll out ideologically-led HCP training, inspired by bogus research that devalues the importance of sex-based reality. We say ‘pause & reflect’. Read our press release:

with-woman.orgPRESS RELEASE: Experts warn new transgender training for NHS maternity services based on ‘bogus’ researchFor immediate release 5 January 2023 A group of NHS health practitioners and researchers has warned that 40 NHS England Trusts are at risk of ideological capture based on flawed research if the new…

This is from With Woman’s press release:

“A group of NHS health practitioners and researchers has warned that 40 NHS England Trusts are at risk of ideological capture based on flawed research if the new Maternity Gender Inclusion Programme (MGIP) proceeds.

Signatures on an open letter to NHS England are being collected by the campaign group With Woman, which represents maternity and infant health practitioners including midwives and obstetricians who are concerned about the influence of gender ideology in the sector.

The experts have called for a pause on the MGIP training programme – which would train midwives at 40 NHS Trusts on the use of “trans inclusive language” and pronouns – due to it being based on the Improving Trans Experiences of Maternity Services (ITEMS) report launched by the LGBT Foundation in April 2022, which is not peer reviewed and contains significant flaws in its methodology and analysis.

The ITEMS report directly compares its own survey of 121 trans maternity service users who gave birth in the past 30 years with an official UK maternity services survey that surveyed 17,151 women who gave birth in 2019.

Despite being commissioned to fill a knowledge gap on transgender maternity service users, the ITEMS research does not mention any specific medical needs that trans individuals and their babies may have as a result of treatments such as testosterone use or chest masculinisation mastectomy.

The ITEMS report also recommended the introduction of ‘inclusive language’ for all maternity service users, which typically includes the addition of de-sexed terms such as ‘pregnant people’ and ‘chestfeeding’. This recommendation is at odds with evidence and current MBRRACE-UK, NICE and Public Health England guidance to use plain English and be inclusive of women with low literacy or English skills…

The letter warned that a scandal similar to the events that led to the closure of the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) could be repeated in NHS maternity services due to reliance on poor research and the influence of activist organisations. Across several sectors including healthcare and education, training courses run by advocacy groups such as Stonewall and Mermaids have had to be withdrawn in recent years at great cost to public bodies.

The current estimate of prevalence of trans and non binary maternity service users is at most 1 in 2000. With Woman says this makes it hard to justify the level of funding and hours dedicated to this training across 40 NHS England Trusts at a time when the health service is under immense and urgent pressure.

In the open letter With Woman calls for the £100K allocated to the programme to instead be directed to the development of high-quality data on the prevalence and clinical needs of transgender maternity service users.”

Woman’s Place UK @Womans_Place_UK

Experts warn new transgender training for #NHS maternity services based on ‘bogus’ research. Calls to sign this open letter: @lizzietweeter @NHSEngland

With Woman @WeAreWithWoman

Open letter: Pause £100k midwifery training based on flawed research into trans maternity experiences. No impact assessment. No peer reviewed evidence base. No published pilot project evaluation. https://t.co/zxDGMT1qdc

Please sign and share this open letter. And do spread the word. Time is running out.