Health officials are reviewing NHS policies which allow transgender patients to be cared for on women's wards even if they have not undergone medical transition, Matt Hancock has said.

The Health Secretary said officials are examining current rules which allow patients who have legally changed their gender to be cared for on women's wards.

Transgender patients are currently treated "as they present" - regardless of whether they have undergone a medical procedure to transition, Mr Hancock confirmed.

In January an investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed that hospitals routinely allow male patients to share female wards if they self-identify as women.

Despite official guidance intended to eliminate mixed sex wards, none of the NHS trusts in England require a patient to have begun transition for them to be treated as their preferred sex, according to responses to more than 100 Freedom of Information requests.

One trust advised staff to consult with the transgender patient if a female victim of sexual assault objects to sharing facilities with someone who may be biologically and legally male.

Current rules which were "set some years ago", means patients with male genitalia can be treated on women's wards, Mr Hancock said.

The Health Secretary said it was a "very difficult" issue, and said that both the rules of the NHS, and the law in the area needed “serious consideration".