NHS CHI Number…again

An article in today’s Telegraph “Scots NHS unsure how many trans patients have taken ‘risk’ by changing sex on records” reported on the number of patients who have changed the sex marker on their NHS CHI numbers, as revealed in the Freedom of Information request we submitted to NHS Scotland.

Shockingly, the NHS only started collecting this information last year, and only after we raised concerns with the Chief Medical Officer in October 2023 about the clinical risks this practice introduces. We wrote to the CMO again after the final Cass report highlighted the same issue and recommended a need to “review the processes and circumstances of changing NHS numbers and find solutions to address the clinical and research implications”. Once again, however, we received a less than satisfactory response with no commitment to resolve the issue but instead stated an intention to exacerbate the clinical risks by reviewing the use of a sex code to enable non-binary people to be recognised. Our correspondence and the replies received can be read here.

In the period since we first contacted the CMO, the Court of Session Inner House has issued an important ruling regarding the law on the protected characteristic of sex which states a person’s sex can only be changed once a Gender Recognition Certificate is obtained. As reported in the Telegraph article, we have now written the following letter to the Chief Executive and Chair of the Board of NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

A recent report by the Scottish Government recognises (at paragraph 377) that it is “important for clinicians to have access to both biological sex and gender identity to support the appropriate provision of care and treatment”, so we will await a response to our letter with interest.