A Midlands NHS trust has announced that it will remove all gender-specific language from its official documents. Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is updating its constitution by replacing more than 65 references to 'he' and 'she' with the gender-neutral pronoun 'they'. The move aims to ensure the constitution is compliant with the Equality Act 2010.
Director of Governance Keith Wilshere presented the proposal to the trust’s board of directors during a meeting on March 26. A report explaining the updates stated: "The constitution has been drafted to be compliant with all present legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. All gender-specific references have been removed."
The trust's constitution, required by law under the NHS Act 2006, sets out how the organisation is run. Among the changes are descriptions of how employees can become members of the council, rules around governor elections, and regulations concerning telephone and internet voting. Some sections previously used only male pronouns to describe individuals.
For example, the old version of paragraph 8.1 stated: "An individual who is employed by the Trust under a contract of employment with the Trust may become or continue as a Member of the Trust provided: He is employed by the Trust under a contract of employment which has no fixed term or has a fixed term of at least 12 months; or, He is continuously employed by the Trust under a contract of employment for at least 12 months." The updated version replaces 'he is' with 'they are'. Other parts that used 'he or she' have also been revised to use 'they'. Paragraph 14.3, regarding the validity of a standing candidate, previously read: "The returning officer is to examine each nomination form as soon as is practicable after he or she has received it and decide whether the candidate has been validly nominated." It now uses 'they' instead of 'he or she'.
Mr Wilshere assured the board: "The audit and risk committee have looked at [the constitution] in a great deal of detail. I can give you an absolute guarantee on that." The board unanimously approved the proposals, which will now go before the trust’s council of governors on Tuesday, April 28. A spokesperson for the trust said: "It’s good governance practice to regularly review and update all elements of the Trust Constitution so they are in line with current language and practice and reflect any legislative or other significant changes since the previous review. This recent review of the constitution has no additional cost attached to it."
