Trans women will no longer be placed on female-only wards under new NHS England guidance on single-sex spaces.
The new rules, published on Thursday, mean single-sex wards, toilets and changing rooms will be used by people based on their biological sex, not their gender identity.
The guidance states that trans people should be “accommodated in line with their biological sex” while ensuring their clinical needs are met and their “privacy, dignity and safety are maintained”, along with other patients sharing their accommodation.
It adds that in cases where clinical needs and same-sex accommodation requirements cannot both be met, clinical needs are the priority.
Updated guidance for NHS England staff has also been published, stating that all organisations should carry out an audit of their provision to ensure it protects the “privacy, dignity and safety of all staff”.
It states that in NHS trusts with mainly single-sex facilities, “suitable and accessible alternatives, such as single‑occupancy or mixed-sex facilities with individual lockable rooms, can be provided”.
In a joint statement, TransActual and Trans+ Solidarity Alliance said the guidance would “not survive contact with reality in resource-strapped hospitals and will create unworkable operational challenges”.
“This NHS guidance emphasises clinical judgment as the priority over blanket exclusion, but leaves individual healthcare professionals unclear on how to safely look after trans patients,” they said.
“Forcing trans people into spaces for our sex assigned at birth will never be the most clinically appropriate decision, and would push trans people away from accessing care.”
Source: The Guardian, 15 October 2026
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