by Daniel Matchett, The Daily Sceptic
The NHS repeatedly tells us it is politically neutral. Senior managers insist they do not do politics. Yet visit the website of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust and you will see a very different picture.
The trust runs full Pride Month celebrations with staff stories celebrating transgender journeys. It organises an entire calendar of LGBT History Month events, including a photography competition on what LGBTQ+ means to you, virtual sessions on LGBTQ+ and faith, ‘lunch and learn’ training on supporting trans and gender diverse service users and encouragement for staff to take an ally pledge and wear progress badges.
Black History Month gets its own dedicated page, complete with the hashtag #WEMATTER, events focused on black women and funding for health inequality research. There is a formal ‘Anti-Racist Statement’ committing the trust to becoming truly anti-racist with zero tolerance for racism and a push for Gold status in the NHS BAME framework.
The trust has also published a detailed Green Plan committing to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040 as part of the NHS Greener agenda. It runs Neurodiversity Celebration Week with personal staff stories about autism and dyslexia diagnoses, holds South Asian Heritage Month events with heritage stories from nurses and doctors, promotes pronoun use in email signatures to spark conversations about gender identity and hosts an annual Inclusion and Belonging Conference.
These are not neutral clinical decisions. They are political choices, identity politics and grievance culture imposed on staff and patients alike.
Meanwhile the main trade union active in the trust, UNISON, runs a national campaign against Reform UK. It produces briefings, posters and postcards that label the party a threat to public services, workers’ rights and the NHS itself. Similar UNISON materials have already appeared on noticeboards in other NHS hospitals.