Trans Identifying employees and patient informed consent

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, NHS England should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear NHS England,

Please provide proof of the number of trans identifying staff currently employed in each health trust, or your most recent data.
Please provide a copy of any policy or guidance you issue advising staff if they are required to disclose their birth sex to patients, and please state in what circumstances, if any, NHS England advises staff to disclose their birth sex, (not preferred gender).
Please confirm if NHS England requires the use of any written documentation of consent for a patient to allow their treatment, handling, or any situation where a patient may be in a state of undress, where Health Care Professionals birth sex differs to their identified gender. 

Yours faithfully,

Susan Walker

FOITEAMCRMMAILBOX (NHS ENGLAND & NHS IMPROVEMENT - X24), NHS England

Dear Susan Walker,  

Thank you for your communication dated 7 January 2020.

NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. As such, your request is being dealt with
under the terms of the FOI Act, and has been allocated the following
reference number: FOI-2001-1120544.

Your exact request was:
 
“Please provide proof of the number of trans identifying staff currently
employed in each health trust, or your most recent data.
Please provide a copy of any policy or guidance you issue advising staff
if they are required to disclose their birth sex to patients, and please
state in what circumstances, if any, NHS England advises staff to disclose
their birth sex, (not preferred gender).
Please confirm if NHS England requires the use of any written
documentation of consent for a patient to allow their treatment, handling,
or any situation where a patient may be in a state of undress, where
Health Care Professionals birth sex differs to their identified gender.”
NHS England does not hold information in relation to your request.

It may help if we first explain that NHS England is not the same as ‘the
NHS in England’. The NHS in England is not a single organisation but is
made up of a range of organisations such as Hospitals, Clinical
Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Ambulance Trusts. NHS England is
responsible for commissioning primary care services such as GP and dental
surgeries, as well as some specialised secondary care services. Therefore,
any recorded information NHS England may be able to provide in response to
an FOI request will generally relate to the services NHS England
commissions.

For information on commissioned services and the types of information NHS
England holds can be found on our [1]website and [2]publication scheme.
For further information on the NHS, its structure and other NHS
organisations please refer to the NHS [3]website.

NHS England has interpreted your request to relate to clinical services
provided by Trusts. NHS England does not provide clinical services to
patients and therefore does not hold any information in relation to your
request.

The information you are requesting may however, be held by individual
hospital trusts. As such, you may wish to re-submit your request to Trusts
directly. You can find Trust contact information on the NHS website at the
following web link:

* [4]https://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/pa...

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review. This should be requested in
writing within two months of the date of this letter. Your correspondence
should be labelled “Internal Review” and should outline your concerns
and/or the area(s) you would like the review to consider. Internal Review
requests should be sent to:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Email: [5][NHS England request email]

Please quote the reference number FOI-2001-1120544 in any future
communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: [6][email address]  
Website: [7]www.ico.org.uk

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows: PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [8][NHS England request email].

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
Corporate Communications Team
Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [9][NHS England request email]

 

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