Recently, when the Government broke an election pledge and announced a tax raise for millions of workers, so as to provide further funding for the supposedly “cash-strapped” NHS and adult social care — Sajid Javid promised to be watchful for “waste and wokery” within the NHS. Shortly afterwards he spotted an opportunity to tweet his anti-woke credentials. Following Keir Starmer’s spine-lacking declaration that you shouldn’t say that only women have a cervix, Javid tweeted, “Total denial of scientific fact. And he wants to run the NHS.”

Shortly after this, Javid didn’t need to be “watchful” for “waste and wokery” in the NHS — it boldly declared itself. An NHS twitter feed calling itself “NHS Rainbow Badge” announced “That this tweet still stands is appalling”. NHS Rainbow Badge asked Javid to “give some consideration to the hundreds of thousand of UK intersex people who you just erased the existence of…”  Talk about catastrophising. Also misrepresentation of a medical condition — the existence of people with “intersex” conditions — does not negate the fact that only women have cervixes.

Welcome to waste and wokery. Thank goodness that Javid is now on the watch.

I wondered who this outfit could be, so boldly “calling out” the Health Secretary, and cheerfully ignoring science, while publicly representing the NHS. One might think their Rainbow Badges are “just badges” — wasteful, virtue-signalling, perhaps — but the intention is good. Oh, how the seemingly most innocent of schemes becomes a front for the unstoppable energy of the gender ideology lobby…who earn good money, paid for by all of us, while they’re at it.

Why stop at badges and obeisant blogs?

The Rainbow Badge scheme started out within the Evelina children’s hospital in London — the intention: inclusivity and welcome. But soon, someone had the bright idea that you shouldn’t be able to just wear a Rainbow Badge — you have to earn it. For example by “making a pledge on social media about how you will be an effective LGBT+ ally”. Or you could “write a blog on being an ally or on LGBT+ inclusion”. Vaclav Havel described why, in the Soviet Bloc, greengrocers put similar signals of compliance and conformity in their shop windows. Also straight out of the Soviet Bloc is another way to earn a Rainbow Badge: you can snoop on others, by: “looking at LGBT+ representation of our applicants, participants and other people working with the Academy”. 

Then, by June this year, the NHS had decided to take “this vital initiative” to “the next level”.  Bigger badges perhaps? No — why stop at badges when you can “start a new scheme to benchmark and award NHS organisations for their work on LGBT+ inclusion”.   

By July the tendering process had started. The contract value: £220,000 from the purse of the over-stretched NHS. The goal: “to build in a more systematic approach to LGBT awareness and inclusion within NHS organisations, and to address issues around monitoring, culture, education and training of the workforce more consistently”. My, how the scheme has grown! Why stop at badges and obeisant blogs, when you can enforce compulsory education and training for all staff across the NHS? 

It is already possible to get an indication of what the scheme will promote; some Trusts have participated in a trial. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in King’s Lynn was delighted to be selected to participate in a pilot.

They “proudly flew” the LGBTQ flag to commemorate pride month. The Deputy Chief Executive said, “Pride Month is just one of the many opportunities we have to celebrate our LGBTQ+ community at QEH and we will continue to move forward on our objectives around staff training, monitoring, inclusive policies and support for LGBTQ+ staff and patients to drive a supportive work and clinical environment.” (I strongly urge you to read Vaclav Havel to interpret this.)

Expect to be called a transphobe if you object

A “QEH’s LGBTQ+ and Allies Network” has been set up. It has developed a “transgender policy”. For what that might contain, see here. Training from the “LGBT Foundation” has begun. QEH will receive a “bronze, silver, or gold” award depending on levels of compliance. It will receive detailed feedback on its actions (so there is a right answer). “Individuals wearing the badge will still need to sign the pledge.” 

QEH cracked into action — and they won bronze!  But it mustn’t stop there. As part of its reward it will “receive an action plan”. No matter how far you go, there is no reason to stop. They’ve got rainbow flag cupcakes. They’ve got a rainbow staircase! Allyship never ends.

The pilots completed, the £220,000 tendered, who won the NHS contract to push more gender ideology through-out the NHS? Stonewall, of course! Working alongside the LGBT Foundation and other partners, “NHS England has provided funding for a further 40 NHS Trusts to undertake the NHS Rainbow Badge assessment model”.

Since then Newcastle Hospitals have become the first to win silver. I wonder what they did that QEH didn’t… and what will it take to win gold? My suspicion is that that will remain elusively at the end of the rainbow so that the demands for compliance never end. And the cashflow won’t either.  

Forty further Trusts are now participating in the NHS Rainbow Badge assessment model. Expect more rainbow badges, rainbow flags, rainbow cupcakes and rainbow stairwells. Also expect men to be allowed to “self-identify” into women’s hospital wards. Expect to be called a transphobe if you object. Expect Stonewall to defend all this.  

Most of all, we should expect Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, to do something about it. Back in August he said he would review NHS “transgender policies”. Now he has promised to drive out waste and wokery. At the Conservative Party Conference this week he raised concerns again. Now we need not more words, but action.