Health bosses defend not offering trans men smear test

HEALTH bosses have defended not routinely offering women who identify as men potentially life-saving NHS screening for breast and cervical cancer, amid fears it might offend them.

It comes despite official guidance stating that men living as women should be invited for cervical smear tests even though they do not have a cervix.

David Davies, the MP for Monmouth, who has campaigned against Government plans to let people “self-identify” their gender, told The Mail on Sunday: “This NHS effort to be politically correct is putting the lives of women who claim to be men at risk.” He said it was also “wasting the time of men who claim to be women by offering them tests for organs they do not have”.

Laura Perrins, a conservative women’s campaigner, told the paper: “We’ve now got to the point where state collusion with this transgender agenda is endangering the health of women.”

A Public Health England (PHE) booklet on NHS screening programmes for trans people states that a trans man, born a woman, who registers with a GP as male will not be sent an invitation for breast or cervical screening.

A video accompanying the guidance explains that smear tests can be “uncomfortable” for trans men, as “it is often a procedure designed for women”.

PHE said the invites were generated using GPS’ data on sex and age. The advice says trans men should not routinely be invited for a smear test but “should still consider having cervical screening”. Anne Mackie, director of screening, said: “Where people feel they are not being referred correctly, they can speak to their GP or the screening service to ensure they are offered the right services.”