NHS trust calls women ‘birthing people’

AN NHS trust called women in labour “birthing people” in a job advert despite the Health Secretary condemning the language.

Maternity services in South Yorkshire are advertising for a role designed to ensure that women giving birth are listened to and feel supported.

But the wording of the advertisement has left a local MP furious and comes after Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, urged the NHS to stop erasing women from its vocabulary.

South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board says the role of maternity and neonatal independent senior advocates” will “help ensure the voices of women, birthing people and families are listened to, heard, and acted upon”.

Nick Fletcher, Conservative MP for Don Valley, said calling women “birthing people” was “scandalous and cowardly” saying the language was “disrespectful to women and mothers”.

Last month, Ms Atkins told trusts to stop using such terms to refer to women and mothers, suggesting that a “Leftwing mindset” is creeping into the NHS.

“We need to be making this robust case to refuse to wipe women out of the conversation,” she told The Telegraph. “When I see reports of mothers as ‘people who give birth’! No – they are mums ... Half the population are women. The NHS should use the word ‘woman’.”

Last year, Steve Barclay, the former health secretary, promised the return of “sex-specific” language to the NHS after references to women were erased from advice on menopause. But many trusts have resisted the shift, routinely referring to “people who give birth” or “birthing parents”.

Cathy Winfield MBE, chief nursing officer at the South Yorkshire ICB, said: “We’re very clear that our advocate is here to support women.

“They are there to support women first and foremost.”