GMC confirm that they record doctors by 'gender' not 'sex'.

[ArthurbellaScott]

https://twitter.com/gmcuk/status/1720078255238316151

Alan Henness conducted a FOI request on Twitter to the GMC. Reproducing it here, apologies if I've mixed any of the order up, it's a bit hard to follow which tweets were responded to when:

AH: 'Please provide the number of registrants who have requested that you not display her/his 'gender' on your public register and how many of these requests you have acceded to. Please acknowledge receipt of this Freedom of Information Act request.'

GMC: 'The regulations we operate under only require doctors to tell us their gender as part of the registration process.'

'Since 2019, we have granted 45 doctors’ requests to remove their gender information from the published version of the medical register. We still retain the information internally.'

AH: 'Thank you for the reply. However, I had also asked for the "number of registrants who have requested that you not display her/his 'gender' on your public register": have there been more requests than these 45? If so, on what grounds did you refuse these requests?'

'Also, on what regulations are you relying to remove a registrant's gender from the public register? Can you say when you will respond to the other FOIA request I submitted at the same time?'

What do you mean by the term 'gender information', what question/s do you ask applicants and what options do you provide as responses?'

Can you confirm the latest version of The General Medical Council (Form and Content of the Registers) Regulations is the one dated 2015?

If so, this states at 5. (d) that the register must contain the 'gender' of registrants: please provide a copy of your decision to not include the 'gender' of some registrants in the published register.

Why do you have 'Female' & 'Male' as the only two options for the 'gender' of registrants in the published register, particularly since these are not mandated by the Medical Act or the Regulations and why do you use these terms when they are the terms for the two sexes?

Please provide a copy of your decision that 'gender' did not refer to the sex of registrants and your decision not to ask registrants for their sex?

What quality assurance steps have you taken to ensure that registrants have provided you with their 'gender' and not their sex, given that you classify their 'gender' using the binary terms for sex?

If the published register doesn't contain the sex of registrants, can you say how the public is supposed to check the sex of a registrant so she/he can make an informed decision about whether to consult a particular registrant?

GMC: We recognise that some people may want to use the register to find a doctor of a particular sex. However it’s important to note that, the primary purpose of the medical register is to give confidence that doctors practising medicine in the UK have the training, skills and experience needed to meet the standards that patients expect. The data currently on the published register may not reflect, in all cases, a doctor’s sex at birth. In addition, we believe that patients who want to see a doctor of a particular sex or gender are more likely to seek this information from their local healthcare provider - not from our register.

GMC: 'Sorry for the delay responding to your tweet. We can confirm we have not refused any requests. The regulations we operate under require us to collect gender information as part of the registration process. But we don’t collect data on the sex of doctors - so we do not hold this information.'

GMC: 'We do not set our own definitions of sex and gender but draw on guidance provided by other organisations. In general, we understand gender to reflect the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed, and sex as relating to the different biological and physiological characteristics of women, men and intersex persons. We are aware of developments in the external landscape and next year we are using this learning to review the language and terminology that we use to collect diversity information to ensure this is up to date. When a doctor registers with us, we require them to provide their gender. We currently offer a choice of two options for them – ‘man’ or ‘woman’.'

Oft, GMC in "sex isn't a thing, really"

This is absolutely horrifying.

Also, The GMC are referring to people with DSDs as Intersex??????

draw on guidance provided by other organisations.

That would be an interesting thread to pull on.

I read that differently. I read it as ‘traditionally we requested gender (man/woman) but that word has been redefined so we need to rethink the language in our registration process’.

The regulations we operate under require us to collect gender information as part of the registration process. But we don’t collect data on the sex of doctors - so we do not hold this information.

I would have thought that the regulations under which they operate are secondary to the law of the land in which they operate.

The Protected Characteristic is sex, not gender. So why are they collecting information about gender and not about sex? How can they ensure they do not break the laws relating to discrimination if they do not collect the relevant information?

Maybe. Using 'gender' in the 'old-fashioned' sense of being a synonym for 'sex', if you were being charitable. But is there an element too of the GMC don't want people to be able to pick and choose the sex of their doctor?

Maybe. Using 'gender' in the 'old-fashioned' sense of being a synonym for 'sex', if you were being charitable.

Only if you were so charitable that you thought donating to Stonewall was a good idea. They specifically state we don’t collect data on the sex of doctors - so we do not hold this information

TW:contains reference to holocaust.

One of the things that fascinates me is how and why a complete lack of accurate data definitions, data collection and data analysis is threaded through certain professions and their work on gender dysphoria.

Josef Mengele committed the most horrific barbaric experiments in concentration camps but his record keeping of data was exceptional. This created an ethical dilemma of whether or not his data should be used to advance science.

I have always believed scientists and medical professionals used rigorous data collection and analysis methodologies. It has been a shock to me that organisations I respected like ONS, NHS have for some reason failed to apply their normal standards of data accuracy, collection and analysis to their work on gender dysphoria and gender identity theory.

The regulations they refer to is probably secondary legislation which are regulations rather than acts, so still ‘the law of the land’. We know there is a mess in the legislation in terms of sex and gender with gender often being used to mean sex.

Thanks, @ArthurbellaScott for starting this thread about my conversation with the GMC.

I'm currently writing this up and hope to publish sometime next week but I'm still gathering some information.

I have asked some friends to ask their local hospital this question:

"Can you tell me how I could find out whether a doctor I'm referred to is female or male?"

I've had one reply so far but would like a few more. If anyone here would like to ask their hospital, I'd love to see how they respond!

Meanwhile, you might like to read my earlier post on the GMC (goodness... it was over a year ago!), which gives some detail on what the GMC records in their register - it answers some of the questions raised here:

The Gendered Medical Council – 1 | Sex. Not gender.

In answer to @JellySaurus's post, the register isn't about discrimination so protected characteristics aren't relevant here. As I understand it (IANAL), they can hold whatever personal information they like as long as they have established a lawful basis for processing that data. In the GMC's case, they are required by The General Medical Council (Form and Content of the Register) Regulations 2015 to record the 'gender' of registrants so they would be covered on the basis of Legal obligation.

The Gendered Medical Council – 2 | Sex. Not gender.

The GMC can’t tell you the sex of its doctors

we don’t collect data on the sex of doctors
~ The General Medical Council

Sorry, I published this last week but forgot to post it here.

Thanks, Alan.

We know that GP Kamila Kamaruddin has his sex recorded as 'female' on the practise website.

Kamaruddin has talked about how women patients allowed him to carry out more intimate care than they did when he identified as male.

Thanks for the enlightening info and analysis Alan. Back in prehistory when I first registered with the GMC (1987) they asked me if I was a man or a woman. I said woman a d that is what my entry said back then. Checking my entry today I see it says "female". That would seem to refer to the same thing I originally meant. Except, oh what is this? It also says "gender" and I don't have a gender! So it's a meaningless and irrelevent piece of information.

I also don't recall them ever asking me for my "gender", so even if it was a real thing, how would they know mine?

GDPR states that organisations must only collect data that is necessary. In one of their responses they state that they don't collect (process) data on sex and that local providers could supply that information. I am baffled as to why they would need to collect information about gender and why they think this is so important that it warrants registrants having to provide this information

How will "local providers" be managing information about someone's "gender"? I have worked for the same large NHS Trust for 25 years, no-one there has ever asked me for my "gender". The GMC is tying itself in knots!

I think they are suggesting that the sex of a registrant may be important in the context of a patient seeking same sex care and where this is the case, the local provider will be able to handle this.

I would have thought that the GMC have a role in reviewing the diversity of the profession and so collecting information about protected characteristics might be defendable in terms of GDPR, but this would not involve collecting data about gender.

I have no idea what relevance gender has to registration.

I strongly suspect that trans lobbyists took advantage of the GMC's regulations that said 'woman' or 'man' and persuaded them to call it 'gender' rather than sex in the 2006 Regulations. At that point, even though the GMC may well have been collecting information on a doctor's sex, it morphed into 'gender'. And then they took advantage of that to allow a doctor's 'gender' to be changed or hidden on a whim.

But @Brainwormis right about UK GDPR: what lawful basis does the GMC have to collect personal information of the 'gender' of doctors? And not collect data on their sex? I'm formulating further requests for information from the GMC and that is likely one of them.

Whatever, women (who are the ones predominantly affected by this) cannot find out the sex of a doctor who treats or examines them - even if it's glaringly obvious when she meets him.

As for local hospitals, GP surgeries, etc, it's difficult to see that they would hold information different to what the GMC holds or what the doctor tells them - I suspect their data is as corrupted and useless as the GMC's.

However, a doctor's employer has to know a doctor's sex for HMRC purposes, regardless of their 'gender', but those who hold a GRC will have their sex wrongly recorded. This is something the courts and/or Parliamnent will need to sort out but at least those who don't hold a GRC will have their sex accurately recorded for tax purposes - but not for the purposes of a patient knowing a doctor's sex if they've asked the GMC to hide it.

Next question… what organisations are you getting this crap from?

Sorry, @Ramblingnamechanger, can you explain?

In the responses to your questions they say they are informed by other organisations…I am wondering if they could name them.

We already know one - G:ADD. Rebecca Says No did some digging last month:

Doctor, No - by Rebecca Says No - Rebecca’s Newsletter