Focus on transgender equality highlights poor experience of trans people in daily lives

Information from Will Huxter, NHS England.

The Chair of the NHS England Gender Identity• One’s innermost concept of self as male or female or both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex assigned at birth. Individuals are conscious of this between the ages 18 months and 3 years. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. For some, however, their gender identity is different from their biological or assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity.
• The gender to which one feels one belongs.
• Internal and psychological sense of oneself as a woman, a man, both, in between, or neither.
Task and Finish Group reflects on a new top-level report on transgender• Sometimes used as an umbrella to describe anyone whose identity or behaviour falls outside of stereotypical gender norms. More narrowly defined, it refers to an individual whose gender identity does not match their assigned birth gender. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation (attraction to people of a specific gender). Therefore, transgender people may additionally identify with a variety of other sexual identities as well.
• An umbrella term used to include transsexual people, transvestites and cross-dressers, as in “the transgender community.”
• This is an umbrella term that applies to anyone who does not feel that their gender identity (e.g., identifying as male, female, or other) matches their anatomical/bio- logical sex.
• An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression differs from that of their sex assigned at birth. Transgender people may or may not alter their bodies to better fit with their gender identity through means such as hormones or surgery. Some intersex people identify as transgender but the two are not the same. Identities such as transsexual or transvestite are distinct sub-categories of transgender and should not be used as synonyms. Should only be used as an adjective e.g. ‘transgender people’. The word “Transgendered” is used by some people but its use is discouraged.
issues:

Welcome to my latest blog on gender identity• One’s innermost concept of self as male or female or both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex assigned at birth. Individuals are conscious of this between the ages 18 months and 3 years. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. For some, however, their gender identity is different from their biological or assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity.
• The gender to which one feels one belongs.
• Internal and psychological sense of oneself as a woman, a man, both, in between, or neither.
services.

I want to say something about the report of the Women and Equalities Select Committee on Transgender Equality, and to update on discussions with the adult Gender Identity• One’s innermost concept of self as male or female or both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex assigned at birth. Individuals are conscious of this between the ages 18 months and 3 years. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. For some, however, their gender identity is different from their biological or assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity.
• The gender to which one feels one belongs.
• Internal and psychological sense of oneself as a woman, a man, both, in between, or neither.
Clinics about capacity and waiting times. I also want to talk about the work we are doing with Health Education England on developing the workforce of the future.

The Government will be making a formal response to the Women and Equalities Select Committee, including the recommendations in relation to health. Ahead of that, I thought it would be helpful to share some personal reflections, in my role as Chair of the NHS England Gender Identity• One’s innermost concept of self as male or female or both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex assigned at birth. Individuals are conscious of this between the ages 18 months and 3 years. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. For some, however, their gender identity is different from their biological or assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity.
• The gender to which one feels one belongs.
• Internal and psychological sense of oneself as a woman, a man, both, in between, or neither.
Task and Finish Group.

Firstly, I very much welcome the initiative by the Women and Equalities Select Committee to focus on transgender• Sometimes used as an umbrella to describe anyone whose identity or behaviour falls outside of stereotypical gender norms. More narrowly defined, it refers to an individual whose gender identity does not match their assigned birth gender. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation (attraction to people of a specific gender). Therefore, transgender people may additionally identify with a variety of other sexual identities as well.
• An umbrella term used to include transsexual people, transvestites and cross-dressers, as in “the transgender community.”
• This is an umbrella term that applies to anyone who does not feel that their gender identity (e.g., identifying as male, female, or other) matches their anatomical/bio- logical sex.
• An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression differs from that of their sex assigned at birth. Transgender people may or may not alter their bodies to better fit with their gender identity through means such as hormones or surgery. Some intersex people identify as transgender but the two are not the same. Identities such as transsexual or transvestite are distinct sub-categories of transgender and should not be used as synonyms. Should only be used as an adjective e.g. ‘transgender people’. The word “Transgendered” is used by some people but its use is discouraged.
equality for their first inquiry. This has brought a great deal of Parliamentary and media attention to the challenges which the trans• Trans is an umbrella term used to describe people whose lives appear to conflict with the gender norms of society. Whether this is in their clothing, in presenting themselves or undergoing hormone treatment and surgery. Being trans does not imply any specific sexual orientation.
• Trans is an umbrella term that describes a wide range of people whose gender and/or gender expression differ from their assigned sex and/or the societal and cultural expectations of their assigned sex; includes people who are androgyne, agender, bigender, butch, CAFAB, CAMAB, cross-dresser, drag king, drag queen, femme, FTM, gender creative, gender fluid, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, gender variant, MTF, pangender, questioning, trans, trans man, trans woman, transfeminine, transgender, transmasucline, transsexual, and two-spirit.
community face in their daily lives, including huge difficulties in getting prompt access to supportive specialist and general health services.

The report lays bare the poor experience of many people, and rightly highlights the unacceptable delays in getting NHS treatment.

As part of my oral evidence to the inquiry, I acknowledged that the current waiting times are far too long, and confirmed that we are working with the gender identity• One’s innermost concept of self as male or female or both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex assigned at birth. Individuals are conscious of this between the ages 18 months and 3 years. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. For some, however, their gender identity is different from their biological or assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change their sex to more fully match their gender identity.
• The gender to which one feels one belongs.
• Internal and psychological sense of oneself as a woman, a man, both, in between, or neither.
clinics (GICs) and the surgical providers to build capacity and to reduce these waits.

At the end of last year, NHS England asked the seven GICs to submit proposals for increasing their capacity and new ways of working, to reduce the length of time that people wait to be seen. We also asked the GICs to make proposals about the support they could provide to people before they have their first appointment with the clinic.

All seven GICS have sent in their plans, which we are reviewing ahead of a meeting at the end of this month with all of the providers. Following this, NHS England will agree with each of the GICs the level of additional investment from the start of the new financial year on 1 April 2016.

Alongside the discussions with the adult services, we are also looking at the additional capacity required for the children and young people’s service run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. And 2016/17 will be year two of a planned increase in funding for the providers of genital surgery.

All of the clinics have reported that one of the difficulties they face is workforce – the lack of suitably trained staff to take on the specialist roles which are being created in nursing, medicine, psychology and other professions. This issue has also been picked up in the Committee’s report.

NHS England is now working with Health Education England to look at the curriculum and training for post-graduate doctors, and awareness training that could be made available to staff across the NHS. These discussions are at an early stage, but I am hopeful that this will make a big difference to ensuring that we have the workforce we need for the future to deliver the improved services we all want to see.

Finally, we will be holding the next of our symposiums on gender• However gender is far more complicated. It is the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology), one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviours (gender expression) related to that perception, including their gender role. Together, the intersection of these three dimensions produces one’s authentic sense of gender, both in how people experience their own gender as well as how others perceive it.
• Gender is expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity. It is largely culturally determined and is assigned at birth based on the sex of the individual. It affects how people perceive themselves and how they expect others to behave.
• Socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and trans people.
issues at the start of March. At this meeting, I envisage that NHS England and Health Education England will jointly describe the work that is needed to develop a credible workforce and training strategy, with a specific focus on the help that we need from other public sector organisations and professional bodies.

I hope this blog is helpful. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

Will Huxter is Regional Director of Specialised Commissioning (London) at NHS England and currently chair of the NHS England Gender• However gender is far more complicated. It is the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology), one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviours (gender expression) related to that perception, including their gender role. Together, the intersection of these three dimensions produces one’s authentic sense of gender, both in how people experience their own gender as well as how others perceive it.
• Gender is expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity. It is largely culturally determined and is assigned at birth based on the sex of the individual. It affects how people perceive themselves and how they expect others to behave.
• Socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and trans people.
Task & Finish Group.

Prior to joining NHS England in June 2014, Will worked in a range of commissioning roles within the NHS, and for five years at an NHS Trust.

He has also spent eight years working in the voluntary sector.

This blog post was originally published on the NHS England website. Reproduced here under the Open Government Licence v3.0.