WRN NHS Data Report
Incoherent and Unsafe: How the NHS’s failure to reliably record sex puts patients at risk
Sex and gender identity are so dangerously muddled in NHS data systems that doctors cannot trust patient records to show the correct sex of the person they are treating — and despite repeated warnings, this report found this data muddle is getting worse, not better.
As a result, there is a very real risk that someone will, literally, be killed by ‘kindness’ because our sex not only shapes our anatomy, it guides diagnosis, influences our risk of disease and determines what is considered ‘normal’ on blood tests.
This damning report details the corruption of sex data in NHS patient records and how this adds pressure to already stretched NHS staff and undermines the value of data collected for research, health surveillance and the planning and provision of healthcare.
Shockingly, this scandal has now been hiding in plain sight for more than 15 years, with an NHS working group warning in 2009 of the dangers of conflating sex and gender.[1] The report shows that the situation has deteriorated since then, with new NHS patient data systems continuing to focus on recording gender identity rather than sex.
When we are at our most vulnerable, an earlier report by WRN[2] which exposed the huge number of rapes and sexual assaults which take place within the NHS underlined the importance of providing single sex accommodation. Baroness Emma Nicholson has also highlighted the case of a female patient who was raped, and then repeatedly told by the NHS Trust responsible that no rape could have happened because the alleged attacker claimed he was a woman.
The report highlights the NHS’s failure to preserve data integrity, assess the safety of the planned changes, and comply with data protection principles and legal obligations under the Equality Act.
This report sets out the unintended, problematic and potentially fatal consequences of changes that were implemented with good intentions but a complete dereliction of due diligence. Checks and balances embedded in NHS policies which require decision-makers to assess the impact of any proposed changes, have been inadequate or absent.
“We knew from our members that there were issues with the way sex and gender identity were being captured on NHS records, but we were shocked to discover the extent of the problem.
“The irony is that those most likely to come to harm are patients who identify as transgender — the very people these policies and practices were supposed to benefit.
“However, this affects all patients, female and male, because this data mess means the NHS can no longer meet its commitment to provide single-sex wards.”
Heather Binning, Executive Director of Women’s Rights Network
WRN collaborated with SEEN in Health and CAN-SG for this report, and we are united in calling on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to take immediate action to ensure the integrity and safety of NHS patient records.
Download NHS Data Report