Transgender alleged rapist in NHS hospital

Silhouette image via Wikimedia Commons

An unnamed male who identifies as transgender is alleged to have raped a female patient in an NHS hospital in 2021. The allegation is under investigation by the police.

The allegation came to light during a House of Lords debate in March 2022 on single-sex wards in hospitals. Peers heard that following a complaint of rape, hospital staff advised police that that “the rape could not have happened” because no male was present. Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne said that after examination of CCTV, it has “taken nearly a year for the hospital to agree that there was a male on the ward and, yes, this rape happened.” She added that the case was a direct result of the NHS policy, known as Annex B, which allows patients to be placed on single-sex wards according to the gender with which they identify.

Baroness Nicholson called for the policy to be withdrawn, arguing that it “gives priority to trans people over women” and therefore threatens the “dignity, privacy and safety” of female patients.

In February 2022, the Daily Telegraph reported that nurses have been sacked for speaking out about trans patients on single-sex wards. In 2021, the paper reported that Devon, Oxford and Nottinghamshire hospitals all tell staff that a criminal history should be part of a risk assessment when placing male-born people on female-only wards, but do not say it is a bar to admission.

Below are some recent reports of sexual assaults by male patients and staff on women and children in NHS hospitals:

Media reports

The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hospital-dismissed-claim-of-rape-by-trans-attacker-bssxvbqch archive

The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/patient-safety-must-trump-trans-rights-in-hospital-wards-m57wvbzdm archive

The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/17/hospital-told-police-patient-not-raped-alleged-attacker-transgender/ archive

Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9857821/BARONESS-NICHOLSON-fear-sanctity-single-sex-wards-threat-trans-rights.html archive