Doctors at GOSH advised not to use the terms 'boys and girls'

Staff told to avoid words such as 'guys, gents and dudes' when talking to groups and stop using 'gendered language' in new guidance document

Doctors and staff at a world-renowned children’s hospital are being advised not to use terms such as girls and boys in diversity guidance.

The advice for staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) urges them to “stop using gendered language” in conversation, and suggests the wrong pronouns can make people feel “disrespected, invalidated, dismissed, triggered, alienated, or often, all of these things”.

The guidance, entitled “Using Pronouns at GOSH”, has been produced by the hospital’s Diversity and Inclusion team and Pride Network, and is published on the hospital’s intranet, with staff urged to “please” read it to “understand more about others’ pronouns and how you can be an ally”.

The London hospital is set to become one of the new child gender care centres following the closure of the gender identity service run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

In a section entitled general guidance, the advice cites “gendered language” that staff should aim to stop using includes “things like ‘guys’, ‘girls’, ‘boys’, ‘ladies’, ‘gents’, ‘dudes,’ etc. when addressing groups - even informally”. Instead, it suggests words such as “team”, “all”, or “everyone”.

In consultations, it urges doctors and other staff to avoid making assumptions about people’s gender, suggesting options such as, “My name is (NAME), and my pronouns are she and her. What about you?” or “What pronouns do you use?”

It also warns that any member of staff who deliberately uses the wrong pronoun for a colleague will be seen as “acting in a harassing and/or discriminatory manner and may be subject to disciplinary procedures”.

The guidance, seen by the Telegraph, follows an inquiry ordered by Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, into taxpayer-funded national guidelines telling staff to treat all patients as gender-neutral. It instructed doctors and nurses not to use phrases such as “Mr” and “Mrs” or “he” and “she” until a patient confirmed their gender identity.

The hospital maintained the document was not part of its official policy although it acknowledged it was on its official intranet site as guidance that staff were urged to read.

‘Deeply concerning’

Lottie Moore, Head of Biology Matters at the think tank Policy Exchange, said: “It is deeply concerning that the UK’s leading children’s hospital is pressuring staff to adopt beliefs that are highly contentious and potentially damaging to children’s long-term wellbeing.

“A hospital dedicated to caring for vulnerable children is no place for lectures on gender identity – especially as these beliefs are not evidence-based. It is time for the NHS to crack down on this madness.”

However, a GOSH spokesman said: “We want all of our staff at GOSH to feel welcome and included at work in an environment that respects them for who they are, as well as the job they do.

“Anyone discriminating against another individual on the basis of race, gender, sexuality or any other protected characteristic will be addressed via our official Dignity at Work policy.”

The hospital said the document had been written by members of its LGBTQ+ community to help staff navigate what could be a “complex landscape”, and said the references to girls and boys related to staff rather than patients.

The disclosure follows controversy last month when it was revealed GOSH staff were provided with guides claiming there were 150 ways to express gender. They were provided by Global Butterflies, a trans campaign group, engaged by the hospital to speak to workers.

One member of staff concerned by the document and guides questioned whether “such an ideological hospital” could help children in line with the recommendations of the independent Cass Review into gender identity services which reported following the Tavistock controversy.

GOSH said its service was fully aligned with the Cass Review recommendations and latest clinical evidence, adding that it was an “urgently needed new service to address the large and rising waiting list of young people needing care”.