Yup! Although takes a lot longer!😂

Ha ha! Turning my annoyance into something positive! 😂

I have trawled the internet and can’t find the document. It seems to be an internal training doc that isn’t publicly available.

Which suggests it’s someone at the trust who has gone to the press🤷🏼‍♀️

Yup!

Ooo I don’t know that one!

NHS claims 'it's raining cats and dogs'is culturally insensitive Doctors and nurses in Lancashire told some idioms risk offending 'international colleagues or patients' Doctors and nurses have been ordered not to say "it's raining cats and dogs" and "the early bird catches the worm" to avoid offending foreign patients. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust instructed staff against using the phrases in its diversity and inclusion training, claiming that the terms were not culturally sensitive. It warned that the terms "may not translate well across other cultures" and may need to be explained to international colleagues or patients.

No, the NHS didn’t do anything of the sort.

The evidence the NHS didn’t do that is the third paragraph in the hit piece.

Any decent paper would have trashed the piece during the pitch phase, but the Telegraph runs dozens of these articles every single day. The Telegraph must be destroyed

OK, I did the debunk without it!

bsky.app/profile/monk...

Right, I'm off for a 🍷 with my 🐶 and to switch off from social media!

If you like these types of debunks, please sign up for my Substack:

monkdebunks.substack.com

It's free!

But paid subscriptions and coffee (or wine!) donations (buymeacoffee.com/MonkDebunks) really help 😊

17/17

Because then they wouldn't get the Pavlovian response to the word DOG that they're so clearly looking for

Please, please, can people stop equating dog mentions with Muslims

Media mention of DOG =/= Story about Muslims!!🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

16/

Text discusses cultural sensitivity, highlighting the importance of avoiding idioms that may not translate well.

Ask yourself why the Telegraph didn't run with:

❗️NHS claims "the early bird catches the worm" is culturally insensitive❗️

Given the guidance it was quoting?

We all know why...🙄

15/

The parts of the Telegraph headline that are not true

So to recap:

⏺️ The NHS did not claim " it's raining cats and dogs" was culturally insensitive

⏺️ Staff were not told idioms would "offend" anyone

⏺️ Staff have not been "ordered" not to say " it's raining cats and dogs"

14/

In a healthcare setting, it's important to use straightforward and easy-to-understand language.

Talking in idioms that non-native speakers may not understand or that autistic patients may not understand should be avoided.

It's really not that deep!

13/

You might be a fluent French speaker and still not understand:

"Les carottes sont cuites!"
Literal translation: “The carrots are cooked!”
What it means: “The situation can’t be changed.”

The equivalent of "there's no use crying over spilt milk"

The same goes for English idioms...

12/

Guidance from NHS England: Five top tips Talk about autism positively. There are many positive things about being autistic. Many autistic people see autism as part of who they are, rather than something separate, and prefer to be described as ‘autistic’ or ‘on the autism spectrum’ – rather than as ‘someone with autism’. Do not use negative language like suffering from autism, symptoms and treat. Instead talk about characteristics, support and reasonable adjustments. Every autistic person is different. Try to make sure people know this in all communications. Autism is not a learning disability or a mental illness. But some autistic people also have a learning disability and many people have a mental health problem. Some people on the autism spectrum understand language very literally. Avoid phrases that don’t say what they mean. Like “it’s raining cats and dogs”. Use clear, everyday language.

NHS England also has guidance on not using idioms when talking to autistic people.

They're not worried about offending autistic people.

They just want to keep language clear and easy to understand.

11/

Extract from the article: A Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “As a large specialist Trust, we are proud to have a diverse workforce and to serve people from many different communities. “It is well known that certain informal phrases or idioms are not always easily understood by everyone, including people with autism or whose first language is not English, so it makes sense to raise awareness of this. “This helps ensure that within our busy hospitals, communications with our patients and colleagues are as clear and effective as possible.”

As if Lancashire NHS Foundation Trust doesn't have enough to do, they had to respond to this ridiculous article👇

10/

Despite the headline, there is nothing in the guidance that talks about OFFENDING foreigners or other cultures.

These guidelines are designed to help more people understand what's being said.

They have nothing to do with not being offensive.

9/

A tweet shares an experience of confusion over the idiom "spent a penny" following childbirth, highlighting language barriers.

I mean, no one with any common sense, obviously 😜

Idioms are, by definition, phrases that don't literally mean what they say.

You can speak a language fluently and still not understand what they mean.

For example: 👇

Just to be clear...

"Let's be culturally sensitive and avoid idioms that other people may not understand"

Does not mean the idiom itself is culturally insensitive.

No one thinks the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" is "culturally insensitive"

7/

Obviously, they needed it to be linked to the "cultural sensitivity" section so they could write the headline:

"NHS claims ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ is culturally insensitive"

Weird that the headline wasn't:

"NHS claims 'the early bird catches the worm' is culturally insensitive."

6/

Extract from the Telegraph: Cultural Sensitivity Be aware of cultural differences and avoid idioms (Idioms are phrases that are common in a language or culture that means something different from how it literally sounds such as “the early bird catches the worm” ) or phrases that may not translate well across cultures. Equality, Diverty and Inclusion guidance for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals It adds: “English phrases or sayings like ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ may need to be explained to international colleagues or patients.”

Here is the section on cultural sensitivity and idioms👇

However, an oversight I'm sure, but the Telegraph has not included the full section that includes the "it's raining cats and dogs" part🤷‍♀️

5/

I'm not gonna do a full debunk of the whole article because it's Sunday evening and I've got better things to do, so let's just focus on the cats and dogs bit.

After all, we know exactly what the rage bait was aimed at:

"We can't say 'cats and DOGS' in case it offends Muslims."

Right? 🙄

4/

Frustratingly, the exact document referred to in these articles isn't publicly available, so I can't do my usual direct screenshot-based debunk!

But I can use what's said in the article👍🏻

And I can also use my critical thinking skills👍🏻😉

3/

GB News headline: NHS orders staff not to say 'it's raining cats and dogs' over fears it will offend foreign patients.

Telegraph Headline: NHS claims ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ is culturally insensitive Doctors and nurses in Lancashire told some idioms risk offending ‘international colleagues or patients’

To be fair, what were these poor Right-wing outrage accounts supposed to think with headlines like these?

I mean, they *could* use their "common sense" and recognise what ridiculous clickbait headlines they are, just designed to rile them up?

But no...🙄

2/

Screenshot of a tweet: God Save Great Britain & @GSGB01 WOW: The NHS has ordered staff not to use the phrase 'It's raining cats & dogs' in fear of upsetting people from other cultures and religion. Britain has gone absolutely

Screenshot of a tweet: @Jenny_1884 The NHS has ordered staff not to use the term "It's raining cats & dogs" as it may offend foreigners. Tough If you don't like it jog on is what I think The NHS needs to get back to concentrating on making people better & not being more concerned about offending

For the love of God, could the "common sense" brigade PLEASE develop some actual COMMON SENSE?!

No, the NHS has not ordered staff not to use the term "it's raining cats and dogs" for fear of either upsetting or offending anyone...

Please engage your brains for a minute🙏
🧵1/15

Yeah, I’ll use that in my debunk. Just really frustrating not to have the actual document they’re referring Telegraph is using!

Absolutely- I just prefer to have the original when I do my debunks!

Oh absolutely- I just want the original to prove the context!

No mention of cats and dogs, so don’t think it’s that one!

Thanks though!

GBNEWS headline

🙏🏼Help required🙏🏼

Is there anyone out there who has access to the 17-page diversity training document was offered to staff at the Lancashire NHS trust??

GBNews and Telegraph have it but I can’t find it to debunk their BS headlines!

I’m on it but I can’t find the actual document they’re referring to which I prefer to have when I debunk!