Progress.

One of the UK’s largest private hospital groups has guaranteed its patients same sex care, prompting calls for the NHS to follow suit. HCA has rewritten its policies to promise that patients will be provided with intimate care by a staff member of the same “sex” rather than the same “gender”. This means that a trans woman could not provide personal care to a female patient unless that patient has given express consent or in emergency situations.

It comes after the hospital was forced to apologise to patient Teresa Steele for cancelling her operation when she requested that only biological women were [would be] involved in her intimate care.

Remember that? October last year? They cancelled the day before the operation and thus caused her horrific problems including months of pain.

HCA is believed to be one of the first major healthcare providers in the UK to offer this guarantee, and the move has led to pressure on the NHS to do the same.

Many NHS trusts offer care based on gender, as opposed to sex, and particular concern has been raised about a policy that allows biological men to be placed on female-only wards on the basis of their self-defined gender identity.

Way to make women terrified to get medical treatment.

Ms Steele is now working with a newly founded group called Caring About Dignity to support women who “like me have been victimised for asking for same sex care”. She said that the NHS particularly “operate self-ID policies which resemble those of the Scottish prison system”

Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said that the policy change was “extremely welcome”.

“The news of guaranteed same-sex care will bring much relief to HCA patients and those NHS patients fortunate enough to be referred there,” she said.

But not NHS patients not fortunate enough to be referred there. Get a move on, NHS.