by Michael Searles, Telegraph
Teenage boys are able to use girls’ facilities in NHS hospitals across England if they identify as female, even if their parents disagree.
Under existing NHS guidance, which is now under urgent review, staff are told to place children in wards – and let them use the facilities – of the gender they identify as.
It states this should be allowed even if the child is “not Gillick competent”, which means they are not deemed capable of making decisions in their own best interests.
Children of either sex staying in hospitals because they are sick typically share facilities up until the age of 12, when it is recommended they are split by sex.
While each NHS hospital trust can set its own guidance, many use the existing policies set out by NHS England.
A source said the guidance around children had been developed in collaboration with the Government Equalities Office.
The NHS England guidance is being urgently reviewed following the Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women under the Equality Act 2010.
But The Telegraph has uncovered at least a dozen hospital trusts in England that are following the current guidance.