Health professionals: your responsibilities

As a healthcare professional, you hold important responsibilities when caring for all patients, including trans patients. This page outlines key considerations that all healthcare professionals should be aware of.

Equal treatment

As a matter of law, you are required to ensure you comply with the Equality Act 2010 and not unlawfully discriminate unlawfully discriminate against patients on the basis of a protected characteristic, such as “gender reassignment”.

Within the context of the Equality Act 2010 ‘gender reassignment’ is someone who is referred to as having undergone, currently undergoing, or proposing to undergo gender reassignment, a process for the purpose of reassigning the person’s sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex. Broadly, it is a term used to refer to transgender individuals – it covers people who intend to transition, are transitioning, or have transitioned, whether or not they have had medical treatment or a Gender Recognition Certificate.

Your personal views must not influence the healthcare advice, treatment, or support you provide to trans patients.

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Updating patient details

You should ensure that patient records are kept up to date in line with your data protection legal obligations.

Patients have the right to ask for their name, title and sex marker to be updated in NHS records. The sex marker may be recorded as male (M), female (F) or “not specified.”

A Gender Recognition Certificate, diagnosis, hormone treatment or surgery are not required before making these changes. However, if a patient is changing their name, a deed poll or statutory declaration can be helpful to confirm the change, although it is not a legal requirement. Staff should not request unnecessary documentation or personal data.

In some parts of the UK, people under 18 cannot change their sex marker, so always check the current NHS England/PCSE or NHS Scotland guidance.

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Confidentiality

Someone’s trans status is confidential information and should not be disclosed without lawful reason. Further care needs to be taken when a patient has a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) as it is a criminal offence to disclose someone’s trans status under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 unless one of a few exceptions apply.

Further, under the Data Protection Act 2018, someone’s trans status may be considered sensitive personal data and may not be legal to disclose unless there is a lawful reason to do so.

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Responsibilities of GPs

In addition to the legal responsibilities described above, GPs have professional standards that apply to every patient, including those that happen to be trans. They must work in line with GMC’s Good Medical Practice, the NHS Constitution and the Equality Act 2010, which protect patients — including trans and non-binary people — from unfair treatment.

Referral to specialist services

If your patient presents with – or requests treatment for – gender dysphoria or gender incongruence, explore the options available, including a prompt referral to specialist gender services if requested by the patient.

GPs don’t need to seek prior approval for a referral from their local Integrated Care Board (ICB), Trust, or Health Board.

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Working with specialist services

GPs are expected to liaise with and work with specialist gender services.

Prescriptions

GPs are expected to prescribe hormonal medications even if they are ‘unlicensed’ medications for the purpose that a specialist gender service has recommended they be used for.

SSC 1620 remains in effect and GPs may prescribe feminising or masculinising hormones recommended by a GIC.

Recent updates impose stricter limits on puberty blockers for under-18s (currently only permitted in research settings), and require that any care involving minors must comply with both eligibility criteria and specialist assessment.

Continuing existing treatment

GPs are expected to maintain hormonal treatment plans for patients who have transferred from another surgery, including maintaining shared care arrangements.

Referral and signposting

The GMC expects GPs to be aware of local specialist support services and to make referrals or signposting to these services as necessary.

Screening programmes

GPs are expected to refer trans people to screening programmes as required for their current anatomy.

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Disclaimer: TransActual do not provide medical, health, or legal advice. The content of this page is intended to be read by healthcare professionals and is for information purposes only. Use this information in conjunction with your professional judgement and expertise. Information on this page is not a substitute for advice from a legal professional, and we strongly suggest you consult a legal professional for specific legal advice about your situation. TransActual do not advocate or recommend the purchase of any specific product or paid healthcare service. We do not endorse or guarantee the credentials or appropriateness of any health care provider, any product or any provider of insurance and legal services.

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