A male NHS nurse says he has received four nominations for awards celebrating women working in healthcare.
Jia Palis Amada, a man who identifies as a woman, announced the nominations for the Inspiring Women in Healthcare Awards 2027 on social media, including one for Women’s Champion of the Year. The awards are organised by the publisher emap in association with Nursing Times magazine.
Amada, a nurse manager at Colchester Hospital, part of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said his nominations also included Mentor of the Year and Wellbeing Champion.
Describing himself as “truly humbled and grateful”, Amada – previously known to colleagues as Jaypee – said the nominations held a “particularly special meaning”.
“Beyond recognising my contributions, they remind me how meaningful it is to be seen, accepted and celebrated as the woman I am,” he wrote.
Thanking those who nominated him, he added: “Whether I win or not, being recognised for my work and embraced as a woman is already an award in itself.”
The post, shown in the screenshot below, was no longer publicly accessible after [Un]Captured approached Amada for comment.
The awards website describes the programme as celebrating women’s achievements across nursing, medicine, pharmacy, allied health, social care and non-clinical support services.
People can nominate themselves or others, according to the website. Nominees are then invited to submit a formal entry for judging before a shortlist is selected.
A former colleague who worked with Amada on the Covid vaccination programme told [Un]Captured: “He seemed like a nice bloke – very jolly. The next time I saw him, about a year later, he had long hair, was wearing a dress and appeared to be identifying as a woman.”
The healthcare worker – who asked not to be named – said Amada “passed fairly well” and recalled speaking to colleagues who had not realised he was male.
“Good nurses should absolutely be recognised for their work,” she added. “There are plenty of awards recognising achievements that are open to both men and women. But these awards are supposed to celebrate women. Why should a man be nominated for Women’s Champion of the Year?”
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said: “Men can’t be women at all, let alone ‘inspiring’ women. Saying they can be is anything but inspiring for actual women – the old-fashioned kind. There must be many women in the NHS deserving of this award. To pretend a man is one of them is deeply insulting.”
A spokesperson for SEEN in Health, a network of healthcare workers advocating for sex-based rights, said: “Every place given to a man in a women’s category is a place denied to a woman. Sex matters.”
They added: “In a profession where women still have to overcome sex-based disadvantage to be seen, heard and rewarded, it is especially unjust for opportunities intended to recognise women to be taken by men, however they identify.”
It is unclear when Amada began identifying as a woman. A May 2021 press release from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, praising his work on the Covid-19 vaccination programme, referred to him as Jaypee and used male pronouns.
He was subsequently shortlisted for Nursing Times’ Nurse of the Year award in 2024 under the name Jaypee Palis Amada. The accompanying profile, published in February 2025, used female pronouns.
In a February 2025 social media post, Amada said his Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration remained under the name Jaypee James Amada. The register now lists him as Jia Amada.
According to the NMC’s published guidance, registrants can change their registered name by providing supporting documentation, such as a deed poll. A Gender Recognition Certificate is not listed as a requirement.
Amada and his partner, Sam, are also the subject of a crowdfunding appeal seeking help with the costs of becoming parents through surrogacy. The appeal describes their journey as one of “love, faith, and resilience”.
Both Amada and emap were approached for comment.
The former colleague told [Un] Captured she did not know whether Amada used female facilities or provided intimate care to female patients who had requested a female practitioner.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust said it had not formally nominated any member of staff for these awards from the Trust, nor did it have any affiliation to them.
Catherine Morgan, Chief Nurse for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have male and female staff throughout healthcare who routinely provide intimate care and examinations as part of their work. In line with national guidance, where patients request care from a woman, we would not provide a member of staff who did not align with that biological sex.”
5 Responses
So disappointing to see this still happening. I thought the “men make the best women” nonsense was supposed to be over following the FWS judgment.
What a foul insult to women nurses. Hard to imagine anything much more demotivating than this.
Adding insult to injury Men stealing women’s hard won awards is shameful. He is not a woman and should be expelled!
Surrogacy is wrong it’s just another name for child trafficking shameful!
As a retired nurse I am ashamed to see this nonsense being supported and spread by an NHS organisation.
Someone who doesn’t know that sex is determined at conception and immutable has insufficient knowledge of human biology to qualify as a nurse, in my opinion.
And organisations such as the Nursing Times and NHS Trusts should uphold the law, which recognises that basic biological fact about the sexes.
Women make up 91% of NHS nursing and yet this bloke has supposedly come out on top. It’s a huge slap in the face to all the brilliant women they could have selected.