No longer having the right to see a female GP?

[EarthSight]

I read the following on the NHS website today and it seems that women may no longer have the right to ask to see a female sexed GP any more. Gender has effectively replaced sex (a protected characteristic) under the NHS.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/can-i-choose-to-see-a-male-or-female-gp/

You can ask to see a male or female GP, as long as your surgery has both male and female GPs available.

Other information may also be provided about the healthcare professionals who work at the surgery, such as:

<strong>the names of non-medical staff</strong>
<strong>the gender of each healthcare professional</strong>

Hm.

This article, front page on the Guardian today, includes a transwoman GP who says:

'When I informed the practice to say that I wanted to transition, they gave me applause. They only asked one thing: what shall we tell the patients? I was worried about the reception, so I took the decision to tell them myself.

Patients who knew me from before were very happy for me. I didn’t receive any hostility. We live in a multi-ethnic society; a lot of our female patients wear long, very modest clothes. After I transitioned they allowed me to examine them. For me that was such a big acceptance. For new patients, either they didn’t know or they didn’t care.'

Sorry, forgot link: www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/11/meet-the-trans-key-workers-treating-teaching-and-serving-the-uk

As I understand it, you're still within your rights to ask for a female GP or nurse, assuming one is available. However, because any male can identify as a woman/female these days, there is no guarantee that the GP or nurse that shows up is actually a woman. In the vast majority of cases, asking for a female GP/nurse means you will get one, but there have been cases of women going for smears or other services and finding that the healthcare staff is male - either with or without a GRC.

And if any woman dared to complain would they be told where to go? Or worse sent for reeducation?
Will the women suffer through one appointment then never go back?
Is anyone even keeping tally of how many women abandon their GP surgery if they meet a trans GP?
How would that be recorded, of course by "gender" .
Christ alive I call it one maybe two years til women en mass leave public life.

This has got to be susceptible to a JR

Yes, FFS.

'they allowed me to examine them. For me that was such a big acceptance'.

Well, glad your female patients have validated your identity, doctor.

' For new patients, either they didn’t know or they didn’t care.''

And presumably if they didn't know, you didn't care?

I hope the GP is equally understanding of female people not prepared to allow them to examine them, because the trouble with interpreting that as a gesture of support of someone's transition leads to interpreting female people saying 'no' as an act of not supporting someone's transition.

And the job of a medical professional is to meet the needs of the person they are there to help, to understand things like female patients' needs and feelings and particular challenges, and not ever to tip over professional boundaries into using that patient to meet their own emotional needs. What happens to the females who say no? Or just stop going to the GP for anything they're not happy to talk to a male about? It is not all about the transitioning person.

'A lot of my patients were quite conservative — many female patients wore long clothes, or the hijab — but they allowed me to examine them despite my change. In fact, after my transition, they even allowed me to perform more intimate examinations that they did not let me to do when I was a male GP. Every single one of them refused my offer of a chaperone even when they knew that I am transgender.'

bjgp.org/content/67/660/313

Same doctor.

It's not that long ago that there were too few women GP's so there wasn't any choice. However, there was always a woman in attendance with the GP. I wonder if that would still be the case

I don’t believe that doctor.

That doctor is as deluded as bejaysus. All of that crap is in their self absorbed head.

The bloody neck of them, announcing that it was such a big acceptance for them!! Treating a sick patient was all about them...
(So many "thems", to avoid deletion for speaking the truth 🙄)
It sounds so depressingly familiar. Me, me, me. You only exist to validate me. Not what you want or expect from a bloody doctor.

We live in a multi-ethnic society; a lot of our female patients wear long, very modest clothes. After I transitioned they allowed me to examine them. For me that was such a big acceptance.

Because it's all about affirming you.

In fact, after my transition, they even allowed me to perform more intimate examinations that they did not let me to do when I was a male GP. Every single one of them refused my offer of a chaperone even when they knew that I am transgender.'

oh god the TONE of that. not envy

Apart from the fact that it seems unlikely to be true, it's... it gives a troubling impression that they enjoyed "being allowed to perform more intimate examinations".

In the practice here you'd have trouble getting a male gp. There is a male gp but only part time.

"they even allowed me to perform more intimate examinations that they did not let me to do when I was a male GP."

The word "let" is troubling in this context.

incidentally I wonder what happened to the numbers in that person's practice after the transition. I think I'd just switch doctors rather than have to negotiate some kind of "I'd like to see a female GP, no not Dr K, one of the other female GPs" thing when making appointments.

incidentally I wonder what happened to the numbers in that person's practice after the transition. I think I'd just switch doctors rather than have to negotiate some kind of "I'd like to see a female GP, nonotDr K, one of the other female GPs" thing when making appointments
And probably even saying such a thing would have you labelled transphobic, and/or sent for reeducation.

The word "let" is troubling in this context.

yes! I was finding it hard to articulate what the linguistic red flags are but that is a big one.

The whole thing though, as if access to women's bodies when they are at their most vulnerable is a rewarding experience that was previously denied to them.

Nope.

Every woman has the right to ask for a female practitioner. That's female as in female. As in biological sex.

These headlines are misleading. The law is very clear. Sex is a protected characteristic and the law is there to protect women and girls.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

"I am not a standard person, I wasn’t born standard, and I won’t die a standard person."

I wonder how many people, trans or otherwise, think of themselves as "standard"...

God, yes. The let really suggests it was something they'd been pushing for and had finally been granted their request 🤮

Women in conservative societies aren't often socialized to demand their rights. It reads like the physician took advantage of this. I feel ill for them.

If women want to see a woman GP they need to start either checking the GP's sex is a woman or by asking for a 'female sexed GP' when booking an appointment. Women also need to start saying 'no' and walking out of appointments when they are uncomfortable. Personally I don't want to see a transgender GP.

We pay for the NHS through our taxes and we have an equality law for a reason.

I read the "let" sentence as "I GOT TO TOUCH REAL VULVA. YAY ME". Which is just what you want from your GP.