NHS trust 'awards firms higher marks if they adopt pro-trans ideology'
NHS trust ‘awards firms vying for multi-million pound healthcare contracts higher marks in bidding process if they adopt LGBT charity Stonewall’s pro-trans ideology’, whistleblower claims
- Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust marks bidders on a scale of zero to four
- Five questions on the documents titled ‘Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index’
- They are given equal weight to answers on training and length of hospital stay
- Comes after than 700 nurses and midwives wrote of concerns over Stonewall
- The LGBT charity has been mired in controversy due its gender identity views
An NHS trust is ‘awarding companies vying for multi-million pound healthcare contracts higher marks in its bidding process if they adopt LGBT charity Stonewall’s pro-trans ideology’, a whistleblower has claimed.
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust marks bidders on a scale of zero to four based on their responses to 35 questions on official tender documents to provide stoma services at its hospitals.
The documents, for contracts worth millions of pounds, include five questions titled ‘Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index’, The Telegraph reports.
They ask about ‘diversity and inclusion strategies’ backed by Stonewall, which has been mired in controversy over its gender identity views, and insistence that people should be able to access single-sex wards based on the gender that they identify as – not their biological sex.
The charity has also called for the word ‘mothers’ to be replaced with the gender-neutral term ‘parent who has given birth’.
Channel 4, Ofsted and the Department of Health have all cut ties with Stonewall, while more than 700 nurses and midwives wrote to the Nursing and Midwifery Council to detail their concerns about its stance on medical issues in February.
Stonewall’s workplace diversity scheme has been criticised for creating ‘woke’ work environments that curb free speech among staff.
Protesters hold a banner during a rally at Parliament Square in October last year calling for public bodies and private companies who are members of Stonewall to come out of the charity scheme
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust’s hospitals include Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham (pictured)
Nurses and midwives who signed the petition argued that the NMC’s affiliation with Stonewall impeded their ability to speak out for the rights of female patients, as they are professionally obliged.
The first Stonewall question on the document, on the internal NHS website, reads: ‘Are you a member of the Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index?’
Bidders can then given a mark of zero for ‘failure to understand’ or ‘no confidence that the requirements will be delivered’.
Alternatively, the highest rating of four can be given where there is a ‘high degree of confidence that the potential provider’s proposal will meet the requirements’.
Stonewall’s questions are also given equal weighting to those of imperative medical questions including training, length of hospital stay, patient satisfaction and risk assessments.
Another of the questions asks: ‘Do you have a policy that explicitly bans discrimination, bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity?’
And the others read ‘Do you monitor incidents of bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity?… Do you have a transitioning at work policy?…Do you have a diversity and inclusion strategy?’
The contract comes under the umbrella of the Guys and St Thomas NHS trust procurement group, with the whistleblower raising concerns that it has become a standard template that is in use by NHS trusts across London.
The documents are to deliver stoma services, namely an opening made in the stomach during a colostomy or ileostomy procedure.
The whistleblower said: ‘The outcome of this is the NHS might accept a tender from a company offering an inferior product or a higher price based on Stonewall membership.
‘To put it another way the NHS is willing to compromise on patient care to promote Stonewall. It is worth pointing out these are very large and important contracts worth multiple millions of pounds over many years for winning companies.
‘I would like to find a way to draw this to people’s attention and hopefully return the NHS to putting people’s health ahead of virtue signalling and political campaigning.
‘Currently a publicly funded service is pressuring private companies to give money to an extremist far left misogynistic campaign group.’
Stonewall’s ‘Diversity Champions’ programme is a membership scheme for employers that aims to make their workplace a space where LGBT+ staff can feel free to be themselves.
Organisations pay thousands of pounds to be part of the programme, which allows them to use Stonewall promotional logos and materials and gain access to training to make their workplace LGBT+ friendly.
Six NHS bodies featured in Stonewall’s ‘top 100 employers’ this year, including NHS England.
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust’s hospitals include Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham – as well as other health services in the Lewisham borough.
A spokesperson for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Under national guidance, NHS trusts are required to apply 10 per cent social value weighting for tenders.
‘This includes environmental, economic and social issues and is one of a number of things we consider when procuring services.”
The statement added: ‘These particular questions are not a standard tender framework for two other trusts it supports.’
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