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>

I sincerely doubt that conservative Muslim women would do as this Dr describes. .

What was the case in greater Glasgow and Clyde where a woman had tried to ask specifically for a female HCP and had been held up as an example of bigotry and transphobia? Maybe last year?

I read the "let" sentence as "I GOT TO TOUCH REAL VULVA. YAY ME"

oh god that made me laugh in a very unhappy way. That's completely how I read it too, though I was trying to be a bit more diplomatic. It's AWFUL, I can't believe a medical professional would even say that stuff in their outside voice let alone publish it in a professional journal.

A person was prosecuted a while ago for having an affair with a young girl while pretending to be male (I’m not sure if they were trans or not).
I know that this is slightly different but there are likely to be women who would feel violated if they were intimately examined by someone who turned out to be not what they were expecting - they can’t give informed consent to that surely.
I am also perturbed by the mention of multi ethnic and ‘women who wear long, very modest clothes’ that indicates that they are possibly Muslim - I’m not sure they wouldn’t have issues with that, they may not feel able to express their feelings for cultural reasons and may just self exclude.

That is disgusting. If they are not bullshitting, that GP is using women from ethnic minority backgrounds to validate their identity? They should not be a doctor. Not because they are trans, but because they have got their professional priorities twisted and have no idea about the effects of trauma and power imbalances in relationships. The way they describe using those women's bodies when they are particularly vulnerable is making me feel sick and terrified.

Copied from NHS website :

For consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person consenting must have the capacity to make the decision.

The meaning of these terms are:

voluntary – the decision to either consent or not to consent to treatment must be made by the person, and must not be influenced by pressure from medical staff, friends or family

informed – the person must be given all of the information about what the treatment involves, including the benefits and risks, whether there are reasonable alternative treatments, and what will happen if treatment does not go ahead

I'm not convinced "voluntary" can be met in these circumstances and climate of risk around expressing disagreement trans ideology. Any patients not told of the GP's biological sex are not given the chance for "informed" consent. That's before we even factor in power differentials between doctors and patients, exacerbated if the patient has an ethnic minority background. I mean, some communities already have a really low sign up rate to GP practices!

Any woman who had suffered past trauma would be at risk of experiencing a trauma response of freezing in the presence of a male bodied, person, especially if they had explicitly asked for a female GP. They might not be able to refuse treatment.

Shame on the Guardian for supporting this push to rob traumatised women of the possibility of being treated safely, fairly & with dignity at the GP.

The solution is so simple. Record sex and gender ID separately. Then nobody is lied to and everyone can receive safe treatment.

NB if a transwoman GP was not trying to gaslight me, I'd have absolutely no problem with seeing them for non invasive, non female specific stuff.

When I informed the practice to say that I wanted to transition, they gave me applause

😂😂😂
It’s like those ridiculous reddit stories which end with ‘And after I did/said that, they all stood up and clapped’

Well to be on the safe side I've called my GP as I need to book for a smear and I don't want any surprises.

I do feel sorry for the receptionists who have to deal with these questions, and more so for the women unable to ask, or feel they can ask.

No ones transition is ever greeted at work with “ok....that’s great, now about next weeks meeting”

If the patients did not know, they cannot be said to have consented, which would require them to be informed of the situation. There is nothing acceptable about this GP's behaviour.

@ArabellaScott

'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.

I find it very hard to believe that a woman wearing a hijab would let a man intimately examine her just because they are dressed as a woman. And having a chaperone there is not just for the patients ‘protection but also for the doctor’s. I tried to turn down having a chaperone at my GP appointment once as unnecessary (small surgery, they’ve known me for years, fully trust them all) and they were having none of it 😀.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3998208-Another-Scottish-Health-Board-throws-women-under-the-bus

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3751152-Only-consenting-to-receiving-medical-treatment-from-a-female-is-not-acceptable?pg=29

Two threads on GGC health board's policies on female hcps.

@thinkingaboutLangCleg

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.

Ah. So the doctor/patient relationship is about affirming the doctor’s gender identity.

Got it.

I’m happy that this has worked out for this doctor, because I believe many people don’t mind. Great. It still doesn’t remove the absolute, legal need for safeguarding and single-sex spaces and same-sex healthcare provision. If it’s not possible (a GP surgery with only males), there must be a duty to have a patient seen by a female at some other surgery. There must.

It doesn’t matter the reasons. We don’t ask these questions about other protected groups (religion comes to mind and we wouldn’t dare).

It is wrong for women—females—to be shoved into the “deal with it” pile.

There must be a compromise, even if it’s difficult or expensive.

@Joeblack066

Sounds like your medical expertise extends to performing your own proctology exam with your head.

Sounds like your medical expertise extends to performing your own proctology exam with your head
Well that did make me laugh.

And its evidently true.

[quote CranberriesChoccyAgain]@Joeblack066

Sounds like your medical expertise extends to performing your own proctology exam with your head.[/quote]
Why would I need medical expertise? I’m not a Dr. I want to see a Professional Medic as a GP and couldn’t give a flying toss if they’re male or female.
C’mon find a better insult!! X

[quote CranberriesChoccyAgain]@Joeblack066

Sounds like your medical expertise extends to performing your own proctology exam with your head.[/quote]
😂😂

Doctors are never struck off for being sexually inappropriate? Oh, wait, hold on:

www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k913

'Between 2014 and 2017 the GMC struck off 19 (not 18) doctors for sexual assault or rape, of which 17 followed MPTS hearings: four in 2014, five in 2015, six in 2016, and two (not one) in 2017. Furthermore, four (not five) doctors were suspended from the register after hearings for alleged sexual assault: one in 2014, two in 2015, and one in 2017 '

(the brackets are because the figures were corrected, details in link above.)

I want to see a Professional Medic as a GP and couldn’t give a flying toss if they’re male or female.

Have you ever had a smear test that hasn't gone to plan, which has taken repeated attempts in different positions, which has hurt and nipped, all because your post-menopausal cervix isn't doing what it's supposed to?

Just out of curiosity.

We're talking GPs not emergency medicine. In a life or death situation people often do things that are entirely unacceptable to them usually. See killing in self defence. And often people who do extraordinary things in desperate situations are traumatised by what they had to do afterwards. We're talking about trauma that is entirely avoidable here, or would be if only the female half of the population were considered fully human.

Are you so irresistible that one look at your magic vagina and he will molest you?! This is extremely ignorant. Sexual assault is about power. It is not a form of attraction. And something like 1 in 4 women will experience sexual assault, so it can hardly be called rare. An unexpected male body in one of the very few areas where women are allowed to request single sex services can be traumatic in and of itself to many women.

When will misogynists realise that women requesting single sex services doesn't actually have to impact them personally? They can see whoever they please?

'Analysis of cases resulting in doctors being erased or suspended from the medical register Report prepared for: General Medical Council October 2015'

'Males were much more likely to feature in these cases than females (82% of cases featured a male in comparison to 18% of cases featuring a female)'

'Cases that were categorised as ‘sexual issues’ involved incidents that spanned a broad spectrum of physicality, ranging from voyeurism to sexual assault (some cases involved multiple counts of such behaviour). All of the victims of the incidents were either women and/or minors (one case involved a minor under the age of 13).'

This is taken from a report from the GMC. I can't link it, it's a pdf. If you google the title I expect it'll come up.

I request a female when non-urgent intimidate examinations are required. That's my right within the NHS. I wonder why anyone would have a problem with that? To the point it makes them angry?

Intimate not intimidate, obviously.