Child protection failures in creation of sexual health guidelines and staff training
Dear Health and Social Care Board for Northern Ireland,
Regarding the “Sexual Health for Trans Young People Guide” produced by the Southern and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trusts and found at https://transgenderni.org.uk/wp-content/...
1. What were the procurement and safeguarding processes followed by the Southern and South Eastern HSCTs in outsourcing staff training and the production of a “Sexual Health for Trans Young People Guide” to LGB+TQ organisations with no healthcare professionals? (GenderJam and Sail NI, with Ellen Murray and Jack Freeman as listed authors, no medical qualifications mentioned.)
2. Given that sex in humans is binary, immutable, and of fundamental importance when providing healthcare, what was the decision process for including unscientific, disputed terminology such as “non-binary, gender variant, genderqueer, bigender and agender”, “gender you were assigned at birth (what’s on your birth certificate)” in an NHS booklet?
3. What quality-checking and child protection procedures were followed, which approved the following in a guide for "young people"?
* BDSM guidance
* Guidance on the harmful practice of chest binding, which links to an online clothing store's article on ‘tips on how to bind safely’
* Guidance on the harmful practice of genital tucking
* Guidance on using sex toys and other items as DIY prosthetics
* ‘Sex work’ (for minors, the correct term would be 'rape')
4. Given that this young person’s guide signposts readers to the Rainbow Project website, which includes content such as guidance on "chem sex" (intercourse whilst injecting or ingesting drugs) with no warning information about the law regarding drug-taking, what quality checking procedures are being used by the HSCTs in signposting young people to third-party websites?
Yours faithfully,
Ann Black
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Dear Ms Black,
Ref: Freedom of Information Request: No. FOI 1310 21
Thank you for your request for information. Your request was received by
the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) on 7^th November 2021. Your
request will be processed under the terms of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, within the statutory timescale of 20 working days.
The leaflet attached is provided for your information and tells you about
the legislation and our procedures for dealing with requests for
information.
If you have any queries about this communication, please do not hesitate
to contact me. It would be helpful if you could quote the reference
number above in any future communications relating to this request for
information.
I trust you find this helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Sent by David Johnston on behalf of
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Office
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Dear Ms Black,
Please find attached the response to your recent request for information.
Regards,
Sent by David Johnston on behalf of
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Office
Dear David Johnston,
Thank-you for the reply. Could you please clarify:
1 What responsibilities does the HSCB have under the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 when one or more of the Trusts are found to have:
a. Breached child protection
b. Paid unqualified parties to deliver health-related training or materials
and
2 How will the HSBC discharge those responsibilities?
Yours sincerely,
Ann Black
“This email is covered by the disclaimer found at the end of the message.”
________________________________
Ms Black,
Thank you for your email below. I have forwarded this to the Assistant Information Governance Manager for consideration/action and will be in contact in due course.
Regards,
David Johnston
Information Governance Support Officer
HSCB
“This email is covered by the disclaimer found at the end of the message.”
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Dear Ms Black,
Ref: Freedom of Information Request: No. FOI 1315 21
Thank you for your new request for information. Your new request was
received by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) on 16^th November
2021. Your request will be processed under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, within the statutory timescale of 20 working days.
The leaflet attached is provided for your information and tells you about
the legislation and our procedures for dealing with requests for
information.
If you have any queries about this communication, please do not hesitate
to contact me. It would be helpful if you could quote the reference
number above in any future communications relating to this request for
information.
I trust you find this helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Sent by David Johnston on behalf of
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Office
Dear David Johnston,
By law you should have responded by the 6th of December; we are now on the 16th December. Could you please provide an update?
Yours sincerely,
Ann Black
“This email is covered by the disclaimer found at the end of the message.”
________________________________
Ms Black
Your request is being progressed and I would hope to have my response with you within the next 2 weeks
The Northern Ireland Health Service is working toward addressing the impacts of COVID 19 and delays are unfortunately to be expected
Please accept my apologies for the delay, and I trust this has not inconvenienced you too much
Regards
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Offices
“This email is covered by the disclaimer found at the end of the message.”
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FOI Response attached
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Offices
Dear Peter,
Thank-you for your reply of 20th December, and I hope you had a good Christmas break.
I can see that question 2 as worded is not a clear request for information already held, but believe question 1 is. To clarify, I am seeking specific policy and procedure information held by the Board that shows how the referenced legislation is operationalised.
My question is perhaps better stated as follows:
What are the policies and procedures to be followed by the Board when issues are raised about a Trust/Trusts having:
i) breached child protection in production of materials/guidance documents
ii) engaged third parties without appropriate expertise in provision of training and creation of materials?
Yours sincerely,
Ann Black
“This email is covered by the disclaimer found at the end of the message.”
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Dear Ms Black,
Ref: Freedom of Information Request: No. FOI 1335 22
Thank you for your request for information. Your request was received by
the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) on 2^nd January 2022. Your request
will be processed under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days.
The leaflet attached is provided for your information and tells you about
the legislation and our procedures for dealing with requests for
information.
If you have any queries about this communication, please do not hesitate
to contact me. It would be helpful if you could quote the reference
number above in any future communications relating to this request for
information.
I trust you find this helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Sent by David Johnston on behalf of
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Office
“This email is covered by the disclaimer found at the end of the message.”
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Ms Black
Please find my response to your latest communication attached
Regards
Mr Peter Moran
Assistant Information Governance Manager
HSCB
Western Offices
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