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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to be frustrated by gender rather than sex on GP triage forms

43 replies

Nomdemare · 29/05/2026 19:19

Well aware that I will get flamed for this, but I’m
really fed up to see my local GP surgery use
gender (instead of sex) for their online triage service.
Possibly even more fed up than the fact that the next available appt not until Tuesday next week, or that it took five tries on the ai dob chatbot section to move forward.

OP posts:
AnneLovesGilbert · 29/05/2026 20:56

ilovesooty · 29/05/2026 20:53

To some people. Not to everyone.

Show quote history

It should matter to everyone who cares about accuracy, in data collection and medicine. Gender is made up, sex is not.

UndoRedo · 29/05/2026 20:56

Sex and gender are different from my perspective, biological sex is determined by genes; gender is more a social construct.

ilovesooty · 29/05/2026 20:53

MesonBoson · 29/05/2026 20:52

Yes! It does.

Show quote history

To some people. Not to everyone.

MesonBoson · 29/05/2026 20:52

Tekknonan · 29/05/2026 19:57

Does it matter?

Yes! It does.

MesonBoson · 29/05/2026 20:51

This was my best joke of the 2020's:

My doctor told me that the risk of cardiac problems depended on age and gender.

I said to her No doctor. It depends on age and sex... I'm sure you did sex at medical school.

Ffs!

Orangemintcream · 29/05/2026 20:09

I had to answer questions on my gender identity and my race before I could get help at urgent care once.

Same when I called mind for mental health help. Until I told them if I was married, owned my home, my sexuality and my gender identity they wouldn’t do anything. Now that was a disgrace.

nocoolnamesleft · 29/05/2026 20:03

Tekknonan · 29/05/2026 19:57

Does it matter?

Yes. Normal values for lots of bloods depend on bloods, screening programmes depend on sex, presentation of all sorts of conditions depends on sex.

BunfightBetty · 29/05/2026 19:57

Those saying the surgeries don't create the forms - somebody is signing off on them. If it's not the surgeries themselves, then it's the ICBs or more centrally within the NHS.

But it will be medics, or those in management positions within medical organisations.

If the forms are created by outside companies, it's not going to be the case that the IT bods who create the forms deliver something for the NHS and demand payment without being given a brief, or that they would refuse to listen to feedback and requests to tweak before go live and payment. And if they're created by IT people in house somewhere in the NHS, they're employees who can be told they need to deliver to the brief.

So yes, somewhere in the NHS, some idiots thought this was the important data to capture, rather than sex.

Tekknonan · 29/05/2026 19:57

Does it matter?

Abitofalark · 29/05/2026 19:55

They should use 'sex'. 'Gender' has been in use as a synonym for 'sex' but has become conflated with 'gender identity' unfortunately, so that 'gender' is now used by many to mean the latter. They write 'gender ideology' when they mean gender identity ideology. 'Genderism' is another variation being used in the same way.

Sidge · 29/05/2026 19:53

It’s Friday. GP surgeries close over the weekend and open again about 0800 Monday morning so a next available appointment for Tuesday is not a big deal is it.

As for the “gender” box yeah it’s rubbish. But the surgeries themselves don’t create those forms.

@hyggetyggedotorg we want your symptoms and not what diagnosis you think you might have. Symptoms guide us, not the potential end point.

hyggetyggedotorg · 29/05/2026 19:44

Well your GP doesn’t create the forms. They are created by IT companies with no medical training so do get things wrong.

My issue with the AI version is that you have to give it basic symptoms - ie “cough”. You can’t say “chest infection”. A cough can be a symptom of many things. It’s absolutely shit.

SwirlyGates · 29/05/2026 19:43

DeniseSecunda1 · 29/05/2026 19:39

Why would you get flamed on a transphobic site?

🙄

Pro-women. This site is, broadly, pro-women.

user1471538275 · 29/05/2026 19:39

FLAME ON

DeniseSecunda1 · 29/05/2026 19:39

Why would you get flamed on a transphobic site?

user1471538275 · 29/05/2026 19:28

It's everywhere.

It's even worse when you are asked 'does your gender identity match your sex' and there is no option other than yes or no - and you cannot swerve the question at all.

I got totally stuck raging at it and had to give in because I really needed to actually use this ruddy service. I went with No by the way.

I DON'T HAVE A GENDER IDENTITY and I consider the whole concept an insult.

ilovesooty · 29/05/2026 19:22

I'd only care about being seen as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Ipsevenenabibas · 29/05/2026 19:21

I always cross the word gender out and replace with sex on paper forms. It annoys me too!