NHS removes word ‘women’ from ovarian and womb cancer advice pages
NHS bosses have quietly removed word ‘WOMEN’ on advice pages about ovarian and womb cancer
The NHS has removed terms like women from three of its cancer landing pages These are the pages for ovarian cancer, womb cancer and for cervix cancerCollectively these cancers kill about 7,500 British women every year on averageHealth experts say omitting female language risks missing the target audience NHS says it is committed to making pages as ‘helpful’ to whoever needs them
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Official NHS advice about ovarian, womb and cervix cancers have quietly removed the word ‘women’ from their webpages, MailOnline can reveal.
The term was missing from the landing pages of three sections explaining cancers only found in biological women.
It comes amid ongoing concerns about trans-inclusive language in NHS guidance, with services currently in a ‘woke‘ storm about de-gendering language surrounding women and pregnancy by erasing terms like breastfeeding.
Some student midwives have even been taught how to help biological men give birth, even though it’s scientifically impossible.
The original version of the ovarian NHS cancer page featured the line: ‘Ovarian cancer, or cancer of the ovaries, is one of the most common types of cancer in women.’
It also highlights the women who may be particularly at risk, saying: ‘Ovarian cancer mainly affects women who have been through the menopause (usually over the age of 50), but it can sometimes affect younger women.’
However, in an update sneaked out in January — which campaigners only uncovered this week — both lines were removed.
Instead, another line was added: ‘Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer, but it mostly affects those over 50.’
Experts also warned the change could actually be dangerous for women by over-complicating health messaging.
But the NHS has defended the update, stating it seeks to make the pages ‘as helpful as possible to everyone who needs them’.
The old version of the NHS ovarian cancer page as of December 30 2021 (left) mentions women specifically twice, whereas the new version (right) omits them
A similar change has happened with womb cancer, with both ‘women’ and ‘female’ mentioned in the older version from August 2021 (left) but omitted in the right
Lastly, the NHS page on cervix cancer has also been changed with the old version from August 2021 mentioning ‘woman’ and ‘women’ but these terms have been removed in the new webpage
There about 7,500 new ovarian cancer cases in the UK each year, with around 4,200 deaths.
Similar changes have also been made to the NHS’s womb cancer page, which used to open with: ‘Cancer of the womb (uterine or endometrial cancer) is a common cancer that affects the female reproductive system.’
‘It’s more common in women who have been through the menopause.’
But the page was changed in October last year to omit these lines, with no other mention of women on the main page.
The same has happened to the NHS cervical cancer page with the previous version stating: ‘Cervical cancer develops in a woman’s cervix (the entrance to the womb from the vagina). It mainly affects sexually active women aged between 30 and 45.’
While the new version does feature a diagram of vagina, womb and cervix, no mention of women or woman is made.
There are about 9,700 womb cancer cases in the UK a year, with some 2,400 deaths. And there are about 3,200 new cervical cancer cases, with around 850 deaths.
Professor Jenny Gamble, a midwifery expert from Coventry University, told MailOnline the change in language risked women missing out on health information.
‘The trend to avoid using the terms woman and women is unhelpful,’ she said.
‘It is a well-established principle of communication that the sex of individuals should be made visible when relevant and should not be made visible when not.
‘This ensures that sex-related needs and issues are not overlooked.’
Professor Gamble, who along with several other experts co-authored a paper on the importance of sex-specific language in healthcare, said ensuring health information reaches the intended audience was critical.
‘In health communication the target group should readily be able to determine that the information applies to them,’ she said.
‘In relation to ovarian cancer, using the terms women and woman, in a sexed sense, is relevant as ovarian cancer only affects women.’
She added however that on a individual level sensitive, respectful communication tailored to a patient should be used.
The NHS website is managed by NHS Digital, and a spokesperson highlighted that women were subsequently mentioned in other subsections of the ovarian cancer website.
They also said that the pages are continually updated in line with best evidence and to be as relevant as possible to all people.
‘We have updated the pages as part of our routine review of web pages to keep them in line with the best clinical evidence, and make them as helpful as possible to everyone who needs them,’ they said.
MailOnline also asked Health Secretary Sajid Javid who this week posted on Twitter that ‘Biological sex matters — ask any doctor or nurse’ for his opinion on the changes but he did not respond.
The change to the NHS webpages is the latest in an ongoing battle about the use of gendered terms in the health service.
Earlier this year it was revealed that hospitals are asking men if they are pregnant before they have scans or cancer treatment.
And earlier this month MailOnline revealed how NHS hospitals have spent more than £800,000 on gender-neutral toilets in the past four years.
It also comes after this website revealed last month that midwifery students at Edinburgh Napier University were being taught biological men could get pregnant and trans men could give birth even if they have a penis.
In a coursebook that has since been revised, trainee midwives were given detailed instructions on how to treat a male-to-female trans person during childbirth.
