Meanwhile, Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, on Thursday said it “doesn’t make any sense” for male patients to be asked if they are pregnant before undergoing scans.

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool currently asks all patients under the age of 60 whether they could be expecting a baby, regardless of their gender, if they are having X-rays or MRI scans.

The approach is being taken to ensure it is safe to proceed, given the harm radiation can pose to unborn children.

But Mr Javid, speaking during a visit to Barking Community Hospital in Essex, told reporters: “That doesn’t make any sense to me. On a personal level, I can’t think of why you would ask anyone that’s a biological male if they are pregnant or have been pregnant.

“If there is some kind of clinical reason for an NHS hospital to do that, then that’s a decision for them.”

In an interview with the online magazine Unherd, Mr Javid said rules about competing in sport should be governed by “biological sex, not gender”.