NHS Fife requires staff to use toilets based on sex at birth as Scotland backs single sex spaces
The updated facility policy states that as well as male and female spaces "additional gender-neutral facilities," will be available
By Aaron Sugg
NHS Fife updated their facilities policy yesterday (30 September) to require staff to use spaces based on sex at birth, as the Scottish government pushes binary gender rules.
The board, which provides healthcare services in Fife, Scotland, has updated its workplace policy on toilets and changing rooms, instructing staff to use facilities according to their sex at birth rather than their gender identity.
The move follows an April ruling by the UK Supreme Court, which confirmed that sex under the Equality Act should be defined as biological. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has since warned it will enforce the judgment.
What does NHS Fife’s updated facility policy state?
The health board, which is currently involved in a high-profile legal case over single-sex spaces, said it will now provide a “balanced mix of single-sex, gender-neutral and accessible facilities” for its workforce.
The review states: “Where toilets and changing facilities are not in individual, separate, lockable rooms, separate toilets and changing facilities will be provided for men and women, alongside additional gender-neutral facilities.”
It adds: “Where a facility is provided separately for men and women, it should be used by people whose sex at birth corresponds with the facility.”
NHS Fife acknowledged that there is a need for facilities accessible to everyone, noting that the majority of its workforce is female, creating higher demand for women’s toilets and changing rooms.
“This long-overdue move” – Helen Joyce, director at Sex Matters, on approving of the policy change
The policy shift comes as a tribunal considers the case of nurse Sandie Peggie, with her dispute with Dr Beth Upton, a transgender colleague.
Helen Joyce, advocacy director at Sex Matters, an organisation that campaigns against transgender rights in the UK, said: “This long-overdue move… is essential for the safety, dignity and privacy of all staff.”
She continued: “Women’s toilets and changing rooms are not places where female staff should be required to affirm the gender identity of their male colleagues.”
Scottish schools told to base toilet policies on ‘sex at birth’
On the same day, the Scottish government called for all schools to have separate facilities, including toilets and changing rooms, for boys and girls “on the basis of biological sex.”
Education secretary Jenny Gilruth said updates to the government’s guidance on supporting transgender pupils were designed to provide “clarity”.