Freedom of Information Request: 0555
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) completed a merger by acquisition of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) on 1st April 2018. Due to historical differences in data collection/reporting across UHB and the former Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust this response has been provided by hospital site.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
- When accommodating patients who identify as transgender on wards that are segregated according to sex do you allocate them by their biological birth/sex or their preferred/expressed gender? To be clear, if a patient/service user who identifies as a transgender woman asks to be placed on a women’s ward would you comply even if they had not taken any medical steps towards gender reassignment and retained their male genitalia or would you house them on a men’s ward?
All patients will be addressed as the gender they present as and will be allocated a bed according to their preferred gender. A person does not have to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to transition.
- Do you have an official policy with regard to where transgender patients are accommodated where sex/segregation is a factor?
Please see attached policy.
- How many transgender patients have you accommodated on wards according to their preferred/expressed gender rather than their biological sex for the 12 months up to the last month for which records are available?
None recorded.
For the following questions please answer for the past five years up to the last month for which there are records available, and within that specifically the last 12 months. So if, for example, there were ten incidents over five years please advise how many happened in the past 12 months.
- Have there been any complaints from other patients/service users where that has occurred about that policy/decision?
No.
- Have there been any complaints about the behaviour of patients who identify as transgender where they have been accommodated on wards in alignment with their transgender identity rather than their biological/birth sex?
No.
- Have there been any negative/adverse incidents involving patients who identify as transgender that have affected other patients/service users, been reported/recorded in any official/formal capacity or required action/intervention outside of normal care?
No.
Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull Hospital
- When accommodating patients who identify as transgender on wards that are segregated according to sex do you allocate them by their biological birth/sex or their preferred/expressed gender? To be clear, if a patient/service user who identifies as a transgender woman asks to be placed on a women’s ward would you comply even if they had not taken any medical steps towards gender reassignment and retained their male genitalia or would you house them on a men’s ward?
Transgender people are accommodated according to their presentation: the way they dress, and the name and pronouns that they currently use.
It does not depend upon their having a gender recognition certificate (GRC) or legal name change.
- Do you have an official policy with regard to where transgender patients are accommodated where sex/segregation is a factor?
Please see attached policy.
- How many transgender patients have you accommodated on wards according to their preferred/expressed gender rather than their biological sex for the 12 months up to the last month for which records are available?
We do not currently record gender preference so we cannot identify these patients.
For the following questions please answer for the past five years up to the last month for which there are records available, and within that specifically the last 12 months. So if, for example, there were ten incidents over five years please advise how many happened in the past 12 months.
- Have there been any complaints from other patients/service users where that has occurred about that policy/decision?
No.
- Have there been any complaints about the behaviour of patients who identify as transgender where they have been accommodated on wards in alignment with their transgender identity rather than their biological/birth sex?
No.
- Have there been any negative/adverse incidents involving patients who identify as transgender that have affected other patients/service users, been reported/recorded in any official/formal capacity or required action/intervention outside of normal care?
No.
Please see attached policy.
