Doctors will have a duty to ensure sick Britons return to work under new NHS proposals, the Government has revealed.
Under proposed changes to the NHS Constitution, which outlines patient and staff rights and overall objectives, the health service will also be tasked with cracking down on terms such as “breastfeeding” and ensuring that “the biological sex.”
The changes could also see trans women, who are biologically male, excluded from women-only hospital wards in England.
Last updated in 2015, the document He will now be subject to an eight-week consultation.
Here MailOnline details everything you need to know about the proposals.
‘Martha’s Rule’ states the need to offer families a second opinion, if they request one, when a patient’s condition is deteriorating. It follows a campaign by the parents of 13-year-old Martha Mills, after whom the period is named. Martha died in August 2021 while under the care of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London after developing sepsis.
Martha’s parents, Merope Mills (pictured), editor of The Guardian, and her husband Paul Laity, raised concerns about Martha’s health several times, but were ignored.
Martha’s rule
It will outline the need to offer families a second opinion, if they request one, when a patient’s condition is deteriorating.
The rollout of the escalation process, also known as Martha’s Rule, began earlier this month.
Including it in the Constitution would “integrate” their right, the Government has said.
It follows a campaign by the parents of 13-year-old Martha Mills, after whom the period is named.
Martha died in August 2021 while under the care of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London after developing sepsis.
Merope Mills and Paul Laity raised concerns about their daughter’s health several times to NHS staff but were ignored.
A coroner ruled she would most likely have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs of her rapidly deteriorating condition earlier and moved her to intensive care.
Supporting people to “stay and return to work”
The constitution could also be amended to emphasize the role of the NHS in supporting people to return to work.
Under the NHS Constitution value “improving lives”, the Government has suggested adding wording to reflect the “good impact work can have”.
If adopted, the new version will say: “We support people to stay and return to work, reflecting the good impact that work can have on a person’s health and wellbeing.”
It comes as Rishi Sunak outlined his plans this week. to reduce the 3.5 million disability benefits bill.
The changes would also see recipients of personal independence payments (PIP), the main disability benefit, receive vouchers instead of regular cash payments as part of a crackdown on “sick leave culture”.
myEarlier this month, the Prime Minister also promised to strip GPs of their power to fire Britons from work.
Instead, the change would see the letters, known in the NHS as “fit notes”, become the responsibility of “specialist jobs and healthcare professional teams”, he said.
Latest figures suggest 2.8 million Britons are “economically inactive” due to health problems. About half end up with depression, anxiety and nerves.
Official forecasts also show poor health spending through the PIP scheme will soar to £33bn by 2029, compared to just under £19bn last year.
A source close to Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said today: ‘As the Secretary of State has said, we cannot have a strong economy without a strong NHS, and we cannot have a strong NHS without a strong economy.
‘We have a plan to make our healthcare system faster, simpler and fairer.
‘We know how important work is to people’s health and wellbeing, and the government is taking action to prevent people being ruled out as ‘unfit for work’ by default.
“It is right then that supporting people to stay in or return to work, and the impact this can have on a person’s health and wellbeing, should be enshrined in the NHS Constitution.”
Trans women will be excluded from women-only pavilions
Under the proposals, transgender people, whose gender identity differs from their biological sex, can be provided with single rooms, where appropriate.
Patients will also have the right to request that any intimate care be provided by a person of the same biological sex.
The proposals follow a promise last year by then Health Secretary Steve Barclay to prevent people who had changed their gender identity from being treated in male- or female-only wards.
Same-sex accommodation rights, which have existed for years, can and are violated when there is a clinically urgent need to admit and treat patients and do not extend to areas such as intensive care or Accident and Emergency departments.
The guidance also means that trans men, who are biologically female, should not be housed in single-sex male wards.
Addressing the planned historic changes, the Health Secretary today insisted that it is vital that “biological sex is respected”.
Victoria Atkins said: “We want to be very clear that if a patient wants same-sex care, they should have access to it wherever reasonably possible.
“By including this in the NHS Constitution, we are highlighting the importance of balancing the rights and needs of all patients, to create a healthcare system that is faster, simpler and fairer for everyone.”
Below are some examples of the changes in woke language that have affected NHS communications. Some of these examples have been taken from national NHS communications, whilst others are used by individual hospitals.
The term breastfeeding is used throughout the page and the term “breast” is omitted. Breast milk has also been replaced by “breast milk.”
Crackdown on trans terminology
Ministers have also proposed that the NHS crack down on trans terminology in hospitals, banning terms such as “breastfeeding”.
Referring to “people who have ovaries” rather than “women” would be banned under proposals put forward by the Government to ensure hospitals use “sex-specific” language.
Discussing the changes today, Ms Atkins said the language the NHS uses should “be clear and make sense to people”, and not “eradicate women”.
She told Times Radio: “I would love it to be business as usual so that people understand that when a woman walks into a maternity unit, we ask her what she wants to be called and whether she wants to be called mother or mother.” mom or a woman, then we all respect that, we don’t try to use artificial language.’
The NHS has come under repeated criticism for deleting women-specific terms such as “women” from official health advice in recent years.
MailOnline revealed this included removing the word “women” from exclusively female diseases such as ovarian cancer and even menopause.
Health experts have warned that such removal of sex from language in the NHS is dangerous because it can overcomplicate vital health messages for women.
Last year, a report by the Policy Exchange think tank also said NHS trusts were compromising women’s rights by providing intimate care to same-sex people based not on their biological sex but on their self-proclaimed gender identity.
Take more responsibility when canceling appointments
The Government has also proposed “strengthening” patients’ responsibility to cancel or reschedule NHS appointments.
They should make sure to communicate this clearly when they cannot attend, they said.
Similarly, it is vital that the NHS communicates information about appointments “clearly and in a timely manner”, they added.
This includes alternative formats where deemed appropriate and reasonable.