The Daily Telegraph

Hospital mocked for welcoming 21 genders and sexualitie­s

- By Alex Barton

NHS BOSSES have been criticised after displaying a banner featuring 21 genders and sexualitie­s in a hospital reception.

The welcome banner at Royal Stoke Hospital with labelled flags includes representa­tion for groups who identify as “Genderflui­d”, someone who feels they have more than one gender; and “Genderquee­r”, those who don’t follow gender norms.

In 2022, a Telegraph NHS data tracker ranked the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust as one of the worst performing in the country, finding it ranked 102 out of 120 trusts in England for overall performanc­e against “key duties of care for its patient”’.

A patient at the hospital told The Sun: “Half of these flags and sexualitie­s look like they were dreamt up on the back of a napkin. People are waiting months and even years for treatment but the NHS is more interested in woke pandering than taking care of patients it seems.”

The Gay Pride rainbow flag is seen alongside several more obscure identities including “Agender”, a person who claims to have no gender. They appear under a slogan which proclaims: “Everyone is welcome”.

The trust said the banner was a show of support to the LGBTQ+ community ahead of Pride month in June.

In May last year, Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, was criticised after 18 gender options were listed on an NHS patient form.

It comes after the NHS faces increasing calls to stop “promoting woke ideology” after it was revealed that more than £13 million was being spent on more than 330 diversity roles.

Separately, Telegraph analysis from

December revealed that NHS trusts are spending six-figure sums on “woke” diversity advisors only to see conditions worsen for the minority groups they were hired to help.

Among them was London’s King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with 10 staff on combined salaries of £748,241.

Politician­s and campaigner­s have questioned whether the taxpayer funds would be better spent elsewhere such as addressing healthcare equalities among patients.

University Hospitals of North Midlands was contacted for comment.

‘Half of these flags and sexualitie­s look like they have been dreamt up on the back of a napkin’

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