To the Leadership of the Nursing and Midwifery Council,
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is entrusted with upholding the integrity and professionalism of nursing and midwifery in the UK. At the heart of this duty is a commitment to ensuring that all patients receive safe, compassionate, and equitable care, and that all professionals within the field are held to the highest ethical and professional standards.
Yet, recent events have exposed a disturbing trend: the weaponisation of the nursing profession by gender-critical activists who are actively harming trans people – both patients and fellow healthcare professionals. The silence of the NMC in the face of this growing hostility is not neutrality; it is complicity.
We are witnessing the rise of nurses who, under the guise of ideological opposition, are using their positions to publicly attack, misgender, and even forcibly out trans people. Their actions have gone far beyond mere ‘personal beliefs’: they have weaponized their professional authority to dehumanize, humiliate, and endanger one of the most vulnerable populations in our society.
A Direct Violation of the NMC Code
The NMC’s own Code of Conduct (2015) clearly outlines the professional and ethical responsibilities of registered nurses and midwives. The actions of gender-critical nurses violate multiple core principles, including:
- Prioritising People (Clause 1.1 & 1.2) – The Code mandates that nurses treat people as individuals, uphold their dignity, and respect their rights. Publicly misgendering trans people, forcibly outing them, and inciting targeted harassment are direct violations of this principle.
- Preserving Safety (Clause 16.1 & 16.2) – Nurses must not put patients at risk. Yet trans patients are now forced to question whether their healthcare providers will treat them with dignity or seek to harm them.
- Promoting Professionalism and Trust (Clause 20.1 & 20.2) – Nurses must uphold the reputation of the profession. Publicly humiliating and harming trans people in the press, leading to targetted abuse on social media, and within healthcare spaces is an abject betrayal of this duty.
These violations are not hypothetical: they are real and ongoing, with documented cases of nurses actively engaging in public transphobic harassment, setting social media mobs upon trans individuals, and fostering a culture of hostility within healthcare settings.
The Mechanism of Gender-Critical Ideology in Nursing
It is crucial to examine how these nurses have arrived at their position. Their fear is ideological, not evidence-based. They have been convinced that trans women are intrinsically dangerous, despite all clinical and empirical evidence disproving this. This fear is then compounded by the belief that they have an inalienable right to persecute trans women in the name of their ideology.
This directly contradicts the fundamental principles of nursing care. Nursing is based on compassion, evidence-based practice, and the duty to provide equitable care to all. Yet, these nurses act not as healers, but as enforcers of an exclusionary ideology, creating serious harm where none previously existed.
The Needless Weaponization of Misgendering, Public Outing, and the Press
Even within their ideological framework – one that seeks to create an apartheid among women, there was no necessity for the extreme, harmful actions these nurses have taken.
- Misgendering trans women publicly was not required to make their point – it was a deliberate act of humiliation and dehumanization.
- Forcibly outing trans women served no clinical or professional purpose. It was intended only to harm, to expose them to danger, and to make their lives unlivable.
- Wearing their uniforms while taking their ideology to the press was an unnecessary and unethical attempt to leverage their professional status for a discriminatory cause.
This campaign is not about professional concerns. It is about power. It is about using the trust instilled in the nursing profession to strip dignity from an already marginalized group. And it was entirely avoidable.
The Impact on Trans Patients: Fear, Mistrust, and Avoidance of Care
Nursing is a profession built on trust, compassion, and the ethical duty to do no harm. What happens when trans patients can no longer trust their nurses? What happens when they walk into a clinic and do not know if the person responsible for their care sees them as human? That they see them as some kind of perverted infiltrator out to terrorise people?
The current climate has already created a chilling effect. Trans patients – many of whom already face significant healthcare barriers – are increasingly avoiding medical treatment out of fear of mistreatment, outing, or humiliation. This is not just unethical – it is dangerous. A nurse’s duty is to facilitate care, not to drive patients away from it.
The Attack on Trans Healthcare Workers: A Culture of Fear
The impact is not only on patients. Trans nurses, midwives, and other healthcare professionals are being driven from the profession by the actions of their colleagues and the inaction of the NMC. There are documented cases of trans healthcare workers facing workplace discrimination, public harassment, and even threats to their personal safety from the actions of their fellow nurses.
If trans professionals cannot safely exist in medicine or nursing, how can we expect trans patients to be treated with dignity?
The NMC’s Silence is an Endorsement of Harm
By refusing to publicly condemn and take disciplinary action against these nurses, the NMC is sending a clear message: that trans patients and trans healthcare professionals do not deserve protection. That the nursing profession is one where discrimination can fester unchecked.
This is not acceptable. It is a complete failure of duty.
What the NMC Must Do Immediately
This open letter is not just a call for awareness – it is a call for immediate and concrete action. The NMC must:
- Publicly reaffirm that discrimination against trans patients and colleagues will not be tolerated. Silence is no longer an option.
- Launch an official investigation into the conduct of nurses who have engaged in such actions, including their misuse of professional standing to push a harmful ideological agenda.
- Enforce the Code of Conduct by sanctioning those who violate it, just as it would for any other form of discrimination or professional misconduct.
- Implement clear reporting mechanisms for trans patients and healthcare workers to safely report discrimination and harassment.
- Train and educate all registered nurses and midwives on trans-inclusive care, reaffirming that ethical, evidence-based care must guide their practice – not personal ideology.
The Future of Nursing Depends on Your Actions
The world is watching. The NMC must decide: will it be remembered as the institution that protected patient dignity and professional ethics, or as the institution that stood by and allowed its nurses to be dragged deep into disrepute? Because trans people will not be the last demographic that this could happen to. There are many people, who are a minority. If this could happen to us, it could happen to them. We speak not only for transitioned women, but on behalf of every minority subjected to vilification in all its forms.
We urge you to act. Now.
Sincerely,
Liora Wren (Transiness Admin).
Sent to:
ceoffice@nmc-uk.org
UKenquiries@nmc-uk.org
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