What can general practice do to address the barriers to healthcare that the trans and non-binary community experience? Many have had very negative experiences, which for some patients has led to a real lack of confidence in the healthcare system.

Well, the IGPM, Practice Index, LGBT Foundation Pride in Practice and the Indigo Gender Service have got together and produced a much-needed document that pulls all of the resources together into a single place, the Gender Identity Toolkit. More than that, there’s even a one-page, step-by-step guide at the end of the document that practices can use whenever one of their patients wants to change their gender marker.

The problem with this whole area is that many of us are just nervous about getting it wrong, and as a result we’re afraid to talk about it. This in turn means that many practices are unclear about what’s required or what the correct process is (or even whether it’s allowed!) when a patient asks to change their name or gender marker. Some patients are asked for a gender recognition certificate or some other document, when none is required.

But the toolkit provides practices with all the information they need about what is and isn’t permitted. It isn’t often that practices receive a request from a patient to change their gender marker, but when they do, it’s important that they’re able to respond effectively. This toolkit makes the process much easier.

One of the key challenges is understanding what the implications of a change in gender marker are for screening, as patients who do this won’t automatically get picked up by the system. Another is, what happens to the records in the ‘dead’ name when a patient has changed their name? All of this is helpfully explained in the document.

On our Practice Index Practice Manager Panel podcast this week, I was joined by Kay Keane from the IGPM, Ali Daff from Practice Index, Aimee Linfield from Pride in Practice and Dr Luke Wookey from the Indigo Gender Service. They explained how the toolkit came about, shared some great tips on how practices can use it (having a clinical and an administration lead in the practice for this area was one!), and they also shared the impact that getting this right can have on the lives of the patients it affects. It really is an important listen.

In the discussion, Kay also recommended the Pride in Practice training course for practices. It covers a wider range of issues, but what’s great about it is that it allows everyone in the practice (admin and clinical staff) to ask the questions they were perhaps too embarrassed to ask before. You can find all the information you need about this course here.