Sample Letter
For those who are not coming to here from Facebook this letter is written for a friend of mine to use and change as she wants to suit the needs of the situation. I don't really have many places to put it so I'll put it here. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
(Patient)
(Address)
(Contact Telephone)
(Contact Email)
(Date)
(Practice Manager Name)
Practice Manager
(Surgery Name)
(Address)
Dear (Mr/Mrs) (Name)
RE: Relationship with (GP Name) and myself - refusal to issue treatment
I have recently transferred to being a patient of your surgery.
As you should be aware, but I feel the need to remind you, I am Transgender, nominally of Male gender but living and identified as Female in my day to day life.
My records and my initial visit with my assigned GP fully disclosed my Gender Identity Disorder (“GID”) and my ongoing intentions to seek Gender Reassignment Surgery in the future. Along side that I have other conditions, including depression, which makes it difficult for me to have a constant outlook on life and makes it relatively difficult for me to confront authority figures.
Should there have been any issues with any of this from the GP's perspective it should have been clearly indicated to me then. As no such issues were raised I have continued my ongoing appointments with the Gender Identity Clinic (“GIC”) and their professionals to continue assessment.
I have been pursuing this aim for several years including formal assessment for the surgery over the last (X) years. On (Date) I was finally given the news that I met the criteria for the surgery subject to ongoing hormone treatment being in place.
With this amazing news in hand I arranged to visit my GP, to get a prescription for the hormones, who was of the opinion that Barnet PCT does not allow hormone treatment and considers it "unlicensed drug use”. The GP initially seemed as if (s/he) would be happy to prescribe the treatment should that be lifted.
With that in mind I have contacted both the PCT and the GIC to confirm whether the treatment should be provided or is considered unlicensed. I was surprised to discover that the PCT in fact has no such restriction in place and that they immediately informed the GP that they had no objection to for the GP to follow the GIC's recommendation and issue hormone treatment.
Despite this I have again been told by the GP that (s/he) will not acknowledge or treat my Gender Identity Disorder and will not prescribe the hormone treatments as recommended. This is unacceptable and (her/his) objections and reasons have not been adequately explained. What is even more incredible is that this comes after it is clear that your surgery staff have accepted my identity as a female, as demonstrated by me being asked to attend the surgery for a routine smear test!
I appreciate that some GP's may feel uncomfortable working with some conditions but if that was the case this should have been advised to me upon joining your surgery and becoming (his/her) patient. Should this not have been considered a problem until the GIC recommended hormone treatment then the GP should have been honest and asked for another GP within your surgery, one who has no difficulty and objection to GID treatment, to take me on as their patient. This has not been done and the GP is still claiming that other people are causing the refusal of treatment rather than being honest.
This entire situation, and especially the apparent dishonesty of the GP, is not helping my depression and has lead to suicidal thoughts more than usual. This is a concern to me and it makes it more important that the situation is resolved as a priority.
I appreciate that this might be the first time that this has been brought to your attention and would ask that the following be done to resolve this situation
1) Arrange for my current GP's objections and reasoning for refusing this treatment to me to be put into writing. If it is that the GP feels they are following direction from a higher organisation to refuse treatment please include proof from that organisation (such as a letter or a copy of the official guidelines with the date they were last updated).
2) Speak to other GP's in your practice to ascertain whether any of them are willing to take me on as a patient. It should be confirmed upfront that the other GP does not have any issues with following valid recommendations regarding treatment of GID. I do not want to bounce around between several GP's before finding one who is prepared to treat my condition.
3) Should you not be able to find a GP in the practice who would be suitable please refer me to another practice with a suitable practitioner as I would imagine that it is much easier for you to find out which GP's are equipped to handle GID patients than it is for me. Since I also have an issue with ID (Due to the fact that a Gender Recognition Certificate will not be issued until after the surgery has taken place) I would appreciate it if you could vouch for my identity or at least do what you can to help ease this process.
I do not wish to be demanding but I would like a response to this letter within the next 7 working days. Should I not get a response, or feel that your response is lacking I will be considering approaching the PCT and the GMC to inform them of the situation and make a formal complaint. I would also like to note that whilst I do not want to cause a fuss I do feel that I am being unfairly discriminated against.
I do not wish to have to take this further and would appreciate it if we can resolve this amicably without interference from other parties. I am interested in hearing any amicable solution that you believe would help resolve this matter.
I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
(Patient)
(Patient)
(Address)
(Contact Telephone)
(Contact Email)
(Date)
(Practice Manager Name)
Practice Manager
(Surgery Name)
(Address)
Dear (Mr/Mrs) (Name)
RE: Relationship with (GP Name) and myself - refusal to issue treatment
I have recently transferred to being a patient of your surgery.
As you should be aware, but I feel the need to remind you, I am Transgender, nominally of Male gender but living and identified as Female in my day to day life.
My records and my initial visit with my assigned GP fully disclosed my Gender Identity Disorder (“GID”) and my ongoing intentions to seek Gender Reassignment Surgery in the future. Along side that I have other conditions, including depression, which makes it difficult for me to have a constant outlook on life and makes it relatively difficult for me to confront authority figures.
Should there have been any issues with any of this from the GP's perspective it should have been clearly indicated to me then. As no such issues were raised I have continued my ongoing appointments with the Gender Identity Clinic (“GIC”) and their professionals to continue assessment.
I have been pursuing this aim for several years including formal assessment for the surgery over the last (X) years. On (Date) I was finally given the news that I met the criteria for the surgery subject to ongoing hormone treatment being in place.
With this amazing news in hand I arranged to visit my GP, to get a prescription for the hormones, who was of the opinion that Barnet PCT does not allow hormone treatment and considers it "unlicensed drug use”. The GP initially seemed as if (s/he) would be happy to prescribe the treatment should that be lifted.
With that in mind I have contacted both the PCT and the GIC to confirm whether the treatment should be provided or is considered unlicensed. I was surprised to discover that the PCT in fact has no such restriction in place and that they immediately informed the GP that they had no objection to for the GP to follow the GIC's recommendation and issue hormone treatment.
Despite this I have again been told by the GP that (s/he) will not acknowledge or treat my Gender Identity Disorder and will not prescribe the hormone treatments as recommended. This is unacceptable and (her/his) objections and reasons have not been adequately explained. What is even more incredible is that this comes after it is clear that your surgery staff have accepted my identity as a female, as demonstrated by me being asked to attend the surgery for a routine smear test!
I appreciate that some GP's may feel uncomfortable working with some conditions but if that was the case this should have been advised to me upon joining your surgery and becoming (his/her) patient. Should this not have been considered a problem until the GIC recommended hormone treatment then the GP should have been honest and asked for another GP within your surgery, one who has no difficulty and objection to GID treatment, to take me on as their patient. This has not been done and the GP is still claiming that other people are causing the refusal of treatment rather than being honest.
This entire situation, and especially the apparent dishonesty of the GP, is not helping my depression and has lead to suicidal thoughts more than usual. This is a concern to me and it makes it more important that the situation is resolved as a priority.
I appreciate that this might be the first time that this has been brought to your attention and would ask that the following be done to resolve this situation
1) Arrange for my current GP's objections and reasoning for refusing this treatment to me to be put into writing. If it is that the GP feels they are following direction from a higher organisation to refuse treatment please include proof from that organisation (such as a letter or a copy of the official guidelines with the date they were last updated).
2) Speak to other GP's in your practice to ascertain whether any of them are willing to take me on as a patient. It should be confirmed upfront that the other GP does not have any issues with following valid recommendations regarding treatment of GID. I do not want to bounce around between several GP's before finding one who is prepared to treat my condition.
3) Should you not be able to find a GP in the practice who would be suitable please refer me to another practice with a suitable practitioner as I would imagine that it is much easier for you to find out which GP's are equipped to handle GID patients than it is for me. Since I also have an issue with ID (Due to the fact that a Gender Recognition Certificate will not be issued until after the surgery has taken place) I would appreciate it if you could vouch for my identity or at least do what you can to help ease this process.
I do not wish to be demanding but I would like a response to this letter within the next 7 working days. Should I not get a response, or feel that your response is lacking I will be considering approaching the PCT and the GMC to inform them of the situation and make a formal complaint. I would also like to note that whilst I do not want to cause a fuss I do feel that I am being unfairly discriminated against.
I do not wish to have to take this further and would appreciate it if we can resolve this amicably without interference from other parties. I am interested in hearing any amicable solution that you believe would help resolve this matter.
I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
(Patient)