NHS defies Supreme Court by allowing trans patients access to single-sex spaces in English hospitals
Bosses are using old guidance allowing biological males who identify with the opposite sex to use women-only spaces such as changing rooms, wards and toilets.
By KATHERINE LAWTON, NEWS REPORTER
Published: 09:32 GMT, 28 December 2025 | Updated: 09:32 GMT, 28 December 2025
The NHS has defied the Supreme Court by allowing trans patients access to single-sex spaces in English hospitals.
Staff are using old guidance allowing biological males who identify with the opposite sex to use women-only spaces such as changing rooms, wards and toilets.
It comes more than eight months after the Supreme Court ruled that the term 'women' in the Equality Act referred to biological sex.
Hospital policies seen by The Telegraph newspaper are said to reveal that hospitals are using a range of guidance - including that trans women should be allowed to use women's spaces, and that staff should look out for families taking advantage of vulnerable dementia patients who have forgotten they are trans.
The NHS is waiting for direction from ministers following proposals from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that services should provide single-sex spaces based on a person's biology.
Women and Equalities Secretary Bridget Phillipson is understood to have received the proposals in September, but is yet to come to a final decision.
Meanwhile, shadow equalities minister Claire Coutinho said the NHS policies 'range from the mad to the downright dangerous'.
She said: 'NHS trusts are clearly putting ideology above the law in a way that undermines the safety and privacy of staff and patients.'
Women and Equalities Secretary Bridget Phillipson is understood to have received proposals in September, but is yet to come to a final decision
She added: 'Despite what these HR policies may say, the law is clear that biological sex is real and relevant.'
Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to overhaul the NHS's guidance on single-sex spaces following the Supreme Court ruling in April, but has since been stuck in limbo.
For now, guidance from 2019 - that has been 'under review' for several years - is still the only national guidance for NHS trusts.
An NHS spokesman said: 'The NHS is continuing to review its guidance on same-sex accommodation while we await final guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission and, as part of this process, will consider and take into account all relevant legislation and the Supreme Court ruling.'