Trans man and cervical screening "confusion"

[SpittinKitten]

Saw this earlier and thought it worth sharing...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-58515769

A transgender man has said confusion over his gender caused a delay in receiving a hospital appointment after an abnormal cervical screening result.

Jamie, 29, from Hull, began his medical transition aged 18, but opted to retain his cervix.

When referred to hospital after the screening, it was questioned why a man needed an appointment, he said.

The NHS group responsible for screenings said it was sorry to hear about Jamie's recent experience.

Jamie said the nurse who referred him to hospital following the check in late 2020 wrote an accompanying paragraph explaining he was trans.

"I think the hospital had said 'Why have you sent us this guy?' and she said 'Haven't you read the paragraph that came with it? This is a trans man, he still has a vagina, he needs screening'.

"It had to go through multiple managers to accept and understand it," he said.

Jamie said the confusion over his gender led to a three-month wait for results - not the usual two weeks.

His results came back negative, despite the delay in receiving the appointment.

The Hull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which is responsible for cervical screening, said while it could not comment on individual cases it was sorry to hear about Jamie's experience and thanked him for bringing it to their attention.

"Trans men who still have a cervix should have cervical screening to help prevent cervical cancer," the CCG said.

"They may need to ask their GP practice for an appointment and ask that their preferences are recorded in their notes."

However, NHS guidance says a trans man registered with a GP as male will not usually receive automatic invitations.

Only women aged over 25 are automatically sent reminders to book an appointment.

Jamie said his case highlighted the issue that trans men and non-binary individuals who have a cervix were not routinely called for screening.

"There is no notification to tell me I need a screening, so it's something I need to manage myself," Jamie said.

He said because screening was normally done every three years "it's really easy to forget".

"That's why women are sent letters," he said.

"Everyone that needs a screening needs that reminder and that will prompt more people to go."

Imogen Pinnell, from charity Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, said there was a need for healthcare professionals to be better educated about the issue "so they are able to better support transgender and non-binary people with a cervix".

"Because so often the experience someone has at an appointment will be what determines if they go back in future", she added.

'Could save your life'
Public Health England said it had worked closely with the LGBT community to produce a guide to help trans people understand what screening is available.

"We have promoted the guide to LGBT groups to help trans people access the most appropriate screening for them," they added.

Jamie said he wanted screening invitations to be sent to everyone who required them.

"No-one is going to say cervical screening is nice, and there is that extra layer of why it is uncomfortable for a trans person.

"But, for a few minutes of being uncomfortable, that could save your life."

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Quite a bit to unpick here- the whole situation is a heck of a mess, isn't it?

And this is why, in their medical files, they should be recorded by sex.
If the NHS really wants to then they can go ahead and have 2 lines; one for sex and one for made up, chosen gender. But the sex is what matters and needs to come first in all medical stuff.

This is why biological sex matters. And regardless of what some might want on their medical notes, it should not over-rule what is actually needed on those notes.

TheWoleb 100% agree. The current situation is preposterous

Ah yes. Of course it’s all the fault of the NHS

Ludicrous.

This is just more evidence of why it is important to record sex. Add gender if you want, but this is what happens when you try to erase the reality of sex.

Well, who would have thought that if you insist that all evidence you were ever a woman be erased from your life, that you would start to be treated and accepted as a man?

As an aside, I do think the terms 'trans man' and 'trans woman' are confusing; I'm never sure which one denotes a MTF or a FTM person.

This was bound to happen when gender identity is conflated with sex. To eliminate your sex from your medical records is an accident waiting to happen.

I got an absolute tongue lashing few years ago when I rang the mum of a transgender boy in school regarding the HPV vaccine ( this was when it was only offered to girls).
She actually put me off speaking to other parents in this situation, as the way she spoke to me was vile.

A transgender man has said confusion over his gender caused a delay in receiving a hospital appointment after an abnormal cervical screening result.

Jamie said the confusion over his gender led to a three-month wait for results - not the usual two weeks.
...

Is it me, or is it unclear about whether it was the appointment or the results (or both?) that were delayed?

His results came back negative, despite the delay in receiving the appointment.
Also a little confused over why the delay might have changed any outcome?

So did mother actually refuse a potentially life saving vaccination for her child, just because it was only being offered to pupils of the female sex and her child, despite being female, identified as a man.

I wonder why he wanted to keep his cervix if he wanted to be male. Perhaps its quite normal but I hadn't heard of it until this thread.

It’s almost like your medical record should contain pertinent information like your sex and then a separate field where people can denote a nickname, pronouns, or whatever other brief identity detail the individual feels is relevant for staff to know before entering the room.

I would use such a field to write “read my allergy list” since it is medical staff who often trigger my allergies themselves.

This just goes to show you cant have it both ways. You cant change all your documents to say man when you are female.then complain when that results in the fact you ate female bekmg completely over looked.

You either accept the consequences of your actions and stop complaining or you accept your gender matters only to you and that what is really important is to ensure you keep medical records and any other records where your sex matters , reflecting reality.

Yep medical records should record sex with an optional field for gender if that is relevant to the person in question

@CaroleFuckingBaskin

I wonder why he wanted to keep his cervix if he wanted to be male. Perhaps its quite normal but I hadn't heard of it until this thread.

It's not a unique instance - Freddy McConnell was legally fighting (and failed) to be named as father on the birth certificate of the child he gave birth to...

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/20/the-dad-who-gave-birth-pregnant-trans-freddy-mcconnell

I knew someone a decade ago who was changing pronouns every other week. I had to really hold my tongue when they complained that a) cervical screening invites triggered their "trangst" by reminding them they were natally female and b) the surgery asking them when they rang whether "Mr" was the correct pronoun on their records or a surgery error - this was apparently sheer transphobia.

This is what happens when you conflate sex and gender, and the complications that arise when you change your sex marker on documents.

Sex is important, especially in medical situations, which is why biological sex should be mandatory on all medical forms, with an optional gender marker in addition.

@SpittinKitten
That article messed with my head! Sorry I just couldn't work out what he wanted to be.

Deffo need to have sex on the medical record and gender too. I do try to understand such things but tbh it all goes round and round in my head and doesn't ever get any clearer.

Who'd have thought that making sex=gender could lead to this? 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️

It sounds brutal but part of me is very much "you reap what you sow". This TM decided to keep their cervix so you'd assume that would remind them they needed smears... There comes a point where we all have to be accountable for our health and if you choose to opt out of sex based medicine then it's your responsibility to track your health needs.

There comes a point where we all have to be accountable for our health and if you choose to opt out of sex based medicine then it's your responsibility to track your health needs.

That. ^

All day long.

The nhs needs to get rid of gender

Gender is not relevant

Just sex. And sex cannot be changed, and it would end all this confusion

Before, after and even during this screening they can be treated with respect, and if wanted referred to as him/his or any pronouns

But medically he is still a woman. So his sex should be on file. Not gender (or maybe add gender too, for information), but all decisions on screening etc should be made based on sex

Please

Sadly the NHS is swallowing the trans-script hook kind and sinker (with their “chestfeeding” and not calling mothers mothers anymore)

@334bu

So did mother actually refuse a potentially life saving vaccination for her child, just because it was only being offered to pupils of the female sex and her child, despite being female, identified as a man.

Yes.

@FrancescaContini

Ah yes. Of course it’s all the fault of the NHS

Ludicrous.

Yes, it is. The referring nurse wrote a cover letter/accompanying note explaining the situation. Whoever processed that and didn't bother to read the notes is at fault.

Yes, the NHS does need to find a way to deal with situations like this; the main way would be to keep sex at birth on file as the patient's sex, though. Paperclipping a note to a referral letter isn't exactly failsafe. Trust me, I worked in an NHS referrals office and we were wading and drowning in bits of paper, something like this could easily have got lost as it was moved between 2/3/4/5/6 locations.

@334bu

This was bound to happen when gender identity is conflated with sex. To eliminate your sex from your medical records is an accident waiting to happen.

Yep. This.

I’m more than happy for records to contain sex AND gender. But just gender is dangerous.