NHS steering tells employees to ask males if they’re pregnant earlier than X-rays

NHS radiographers have been told to ask men if they are pregnant before carrying out x-rays.

All patients aged between 12 and 55 at several hospitals must be questioned on their status, regardless of their sex, guidance states.

Under the inclusivity guidance, staff are instructed to consider non-binary, transgender and intersex patients by not making assumptions about them.

It follows an incident in which an unknowingly pregnant trans man had a CT scan.

 NHS staff are being asked to question patients whether they are pregnant, regardless of their sex

The personal question had left some women in tears, while some men have stormed out of appointments, radiologists have said.

The guidance has also seen patients asked to fill out forms stating their sex at birth as well as their preferred name and pronouns, the Telegraph reported.

Campaigners have called on NHS Trusts to scrap the ‘humiliating’ practices, which say have left women embarrassed by having to explain why they were not able to become pregnant.

Inclusivity guidance at several hospitals also requires patients to fill out a form stating their preferred name and pronoun, and their sex at birth

The probing question could also remind patients of traumatic experiences they may have had, such as a miscarriage. 

Other patients have simply been left shocked that their sex was not obvious to staff. 

One patient due to have urgent cancer pathway was so angered by the inclusivity questions he left the appointment, a radiologist said.

Another patient who was having scans every day for a week, began to doubt themselves after being quizzed about their identity before each check.