“I will do it,” said Thomson, who is trusted by the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. The same answer was given by Dr. Paul Gilluley, chief physician at the East London NHS Foundation Trust, while Mr Cummins said he was “in it”. Ms Hewitt later said: “I urge my professional colleagues on equality issues to give this guidance the credibility it deserves by putting it in the bin and to continue as usual.” Ms. Hewitt has spoken openly about her experience as a trans woman and has fought for trans rights. She said anyone consulting that she could exclude a trans person from a single-sex wing should contact her for advice “as a trusted equality professional” and her message was backed by other NHS equality bosses. Rebecca Bull, co-founder of Sex Matters, said it would be “quite surprising” if “high-level” officials followed Ms Hewitt’s advice “for legal experts at the EHRC”. Kat Barber, of the Sex Not Gender Nurses and Midwives campaign, said she believed the EHRC leadership would have little impact on NHS front-line staff who would still be expected to follow the self-identification policy set out in Annex B. “What concerns me is the attitude shown towards the EHRC by the NHS equality and diversity teams,” he told the Telegraph. “The EHRC considered that there was an argument for women’s rights and clarified that gender exceptions should be taken into account. “The reaction to this says a lot about who is leading the NHS and what is their attitude towards women who want sex care. It also suggests that nurses who want to provide care under the Equality Act will not be supported by their employers. The EHRC leadership also faced criticism from Emily Wraw, Head of Equality, Diversity and Integration at the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, who reminded colleagues in Annex B that “single-sex booths in the NHS are trans-inclusive”. .
