Midwives asked to record gender identity of newborns

A new patient form gives midwives at some NHS hospitals the option to record the gender identity and sexual orientation of newborn babies. The new system was rolled out from 2023 and continues to give unsuitable options for newborns, despite promises that it would be updated.

The new IT system, called Epic, was produced by an American company called Epic Systems, and has been adopted by several NHS trusts, including King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St. Thomas’ in London.

The system’s default settings for entering a new patient, which includes newborn babies, includes fields for gender identity, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, and chosen pronouns.

One midwife was shocked to find that there was no way to record a baby’s biological sex on the form. She said: “Why on earth hasn’t this form been adapted to be appropriate for a newborn?”

“I hope that common sense will prevail and nobody will try to fill in those boxes. Unfortunately, common sense doesn’t seem to be in good supply,” she continued. “These are not mandatory fields. But this is the backbone of documentation that will follow babies for life. It’s proof the baby exists and is needed to get a birth certificate. The fact that it’s asking for assigned sex at birth is worrying.”

The Epic system was adopted in 2023 after winning a contract worth an estimated £450 million. At the time, NHS officials said that the system would be updated to record biological sex only, after midwives complained that they could select ‘gender identity’ only. Despite the promise, the system has not been updated.

Fiona McAnena, from charity Sex Matters, said: “It’s surprising and disappointing that, two years after calling this an ‘error’, NHS trusts across the UK are still registering the so-called gender identity of newborn babies in electronic patient records using software from a US company… This is a clear example of how harmful transgender ideology can be. The concept of babies having a gender identity is farcical, whereas a baby’s sex is essential medical information. This American software is being rolled out across the NHS, embedding misleading and confusing data in people’s personal medical records.”

“NHS trusts can and do customise this software, so they could easily remove anything that might get in the way of accurate information and good healthcare. These trusts have made an active choice to include and adopt ludicrous elements of the software imported directly from the USA, such as the gender identity and pronouns of babies.”