The guidance, first issued in November 2024 and reviewed every three years, instructs doctors and nurses not to use phrases like 'the early bird catches the worm' and 'it's raining cats and dogs' to avoid offending foreign patients. According to the trust, these English sayings may not translate well across other cultures and may need to be explained to international colleagues or patients. It also bans terms such as 'chairman' and 'mankind', recommending replacements like 'chairperson' and 'humankind', and advises avoiding words like 'guys' in favor of gender-neutral alternatives such as 'colleagues' or 'team'. Additionally, employees are told to use 'they/them' pronouns if a patient's gender is unclear.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, spent £100,723 last year on salaries for diversity and inclusion staff. The trust was placed in financial special measures last year after recording a £42.1 million deficit since the previous November, with NHS England warning that directors could be replaced if the situation did not improve. In the 2024/25 financial year, it employed the equivalent of 2.3 full-time equality and diversity staff, with the highest-paid earning £48,526, while newly advertised nursing roles offer salaries of £31,049.
This sounds like an April Fool, but the reality is that these busybodies are constantly churning out new language guides, banning an ever-increasing number of words and idioms.
Critics have slammed the guidance, with some saying it reads like an April Fool's joke and cautioning that language policing in the NHS is on the rise. According to Daily Mail - Home, Lord Young described the rules as sounding like an April Fool and warned that more NHS employees, particularly older ones, are facing investigations for being 'culturally insensitive'. It remains unclear what specific evidence led the trust to deem idioms offensive or how many staff have been disciplined under the guidance since its implementation.
The result is that more and more NHS employees, particularly older employees, are finding themselves under investigation for being 'culturally insensitive', which is code for 'racism'.