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I have copied from the Guardian report below. Last two paragraphs of particular interest. Regards Penny Bennetts Cross Cultural Services Advisor West Herts NHS Interpreting and Access Service 01727 732252 Saturday June 10, 2006 The Guardian A former student male nurse yesterday won a landmark sex discrimination case against NHS hospitals that refused to let him perform intimate medical procedures on women patients unless he was accompanied by a female chaperone. The Equal Opportunities Commission said the ruling challenged assumptions that all men are sexual predators. It would help to open up nursing for men, who make up only 10% of the workforce. The case was brought at the employment appeals tribunal in London by Andrew Moyhing, 29, who said he abandoned nursing because he was not allowed to do the job properly in a female-dominated profession. During training last year at NHS hospitals and health centres in London he was denied the opportunity to provide cervical smears or electrocardiogram tests that might expose a patient's breasts unless he was chaperoned by a female colleague. He complained that female staff were allowed to provide intimate care to male patients with no chaperone present. Mr Moyhing did not object to complying with the wishes of a woman patient who asked to be treated by a female nurse. But the patients were not given that choice. "This was offensive to me as a man, made me feel inferior." Mr Moyhing's claims of sex discrimination had been rejected at an employment tribunal, which ruled that chaperoning was acceptable as a safeguard. But yesterday Mr Justice Patrick Elias decided on appeal that the chaperoning policy was unlawful. He asked Barts and the London NHS trust, where the former student was based, to pay £750 compensation. Mr Moyhing, who now sells financial services, declined the award to avoid diverting resources from the NHS. Jenny Watson, who chairs the EOC, said sex discrimination was wrong whether it was directed at women or men. "The tribunal was right to find that it was not acceptable to have a chaperoning policy based on lazy stereotyping about the risks to patients and assumptions that all men are sexual predators," she said. Mr Moyhing said: "I hope that this decision will herald the beginning of an era when nursing draws on all the skills of both male and female students. Male nurses are still seen as a bit of an oddity." The Royal College of Nursing said NHS guidelines suggest all patients should have the choice of being treated by a nurse of the same sex. There was no monitoring of the chaperoning policy, but it was clear that male nurses suffered from a stereotype attitude that men could not care for patients in the same way women did. Barts and the London NHS Trust said that by awarding Mr Moyhing the minimum level compensation of £750 the tribunal accepted the trust's view that he "displayed an exaggerated and unduly sensitive reaction to being chaperoned". -----Original Message----- From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Rena Papadopoulos Sent: 14 June 2006 08:53 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Male nurse wins court ruling... Now here's something I must share with you! (as reported by the Sun newspaper). A male student nurse in England won a 'landmark' ruling on Friday against his employer (Barts and London NHS Trust) who banned him from examining female Muslim patients without a chaperone. A judge ruled that it was unfair for him to be excluded from performing intimate procedures on women simply because they could have been offended by his sex. The student (who is now a qualified nurse but works as a financial services salesman) was apparently made to fell 'untrustworthy' after being refused permission to carry out an ECG on an Asian woman; he was also asked to leave the room when another patient was having a cervical smear. He stated after the court ruling that 'finally male nurses have the right to be treated equally with others in the profession'. Wendy Irwin, head of diversity and equality at the Royal College of Nursing said that the ruling was likely to have a huge impact on hospitals and staff in the health service. She added that the decision marks a watershed, it sends a clear message to employers that trainee nurses qualify to do their jobs regardless of their sex and by discriminating against men they are frustrating talent which is not good for staff or patients. And I thought we were working towards building a nursing force that provided culturally appropriate and sensitive care! I am also wondering as to what the Nursing and Midwifery Council has to say about this. Any comment? And what about you? Where does this leave transcultural health and nursing? Regards Rena. Professor (I)Rena Papadopoulos, Head of Research Centre for Transcultural Studies in Health, Chair, School Ethics Committee, Editor-in-Chief Journal of Health, Social and Environmental Issues, Programme Leader, MSc in European Nursing, School of Health and Social Sciences, Middlesex University, 10 Highgate Hill, London N19 5LW, Tel: 02084116626 Fax: 02084116106 Why not visit our centre website on: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/rctsh/ WHY NOT ENROL ON OUR NEW AND INNOVATIVE WEB-BASED (PARTLY) MASTERS IN EUROPEAN NURSING. GO TO http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/rctsh/eu_masters_in_nursing.htm To subscribe to our Transcultural mailing list send a message to: [log in to unmask] with the command SUBSCRIBE TRANSCULTURAL-EUNET-L in the message body This e-mail is confidential and privileged. 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