0:00
In terms of health provision, where does this ruling yesterday from the Supreme Court about gender recognition, trans rights
0:11
it's such a complicated issue, where does this leave something like the NHS now in deciding how they take their policies forward
0:19
Well, you're right, it is a complicated issue. The ruling gives real clarity now to this issue from the Supreme Court
0:31
That's a good thing. And I understand from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
0:36
that they will be following up with guidance to all public bodies
0:42
And that is obviously to be welcomed, that there is clarity for women and clarity for providers of services
0:50
which I think is really welcome. We've been talking about this since 2004 in the Gender Recognition Act
0:58
I mean, 21 years there has been a debate about this in this country
1:03
Is it a shame, do you think, that it got as far as the Supreme Court, that it came to a ruling by a judge
1:09
Could this not have been sorted by Parliament, by politicians over the years
1:13
to get that clarity? as you describe it? Well, I think, you know, as a Labour representative
1:22
you expect me to say we're proud of the Equality Act, which was brought in under a Labour government in 2010
1:28
We're also proud of work we did to support people undergoing gender reassignment with the Gender Recognition Act Those are both Labour pieces of legislation in 2004 And I think Parliament was clear in its intent What we seen I think in the last few years is some confusion
1:48
around the implementation of that. And what we've seen from the Supreme Court yesterday
1:54
in this long judgment, which obviously will need to be now carefully considered by government
1:58
is giving clarity to the effect of the Equality Act in 2010, that it has stood that test
2:04
But in terms of the clarity that you talk about, in what sense is there clarity when it comes to the practical side of this
2:14
I mean, for example, single-sex wards in hospitals. What do you now do with trans women or trans men
2:26
Well, let's remember that most people don't go into hospital who encounter the NHS
2:32
90% of patient contacts with the NHS is through their GP, through primary care
2:37
I'm here today to talk about what we're trying to do with waiting lists to get people off those long-term waiting lists
2:44
Same-sex wards were part, again, of legislation in, I think, 2001. It was a 2001 manifesto commitment from the Labour Party to introduce same-sex wards
2:54
That was mostly done in hospitals today. You have a large number of single rooms
3:00
You have small awards for same-sex, for people to have dignity. It's also important that people, transgender people
3:08
also have dignity and privacy. And in individual cases, that will be up to local institutions
3:13
to make sure that they provide dignity and privacy to all patients
