Yorkshire Trans Folk Lobby MPs

A group of trans people in Yorkshire and Humberside are lobbying their region's MPs – all 37 of them – to draw attention to conditions within the Leeds Gender Identity Service.

The campaigners plan to hold a lobby day in Westminster on May 19^th.

The text of the letter from Claire Eastwood, which constituents are sending to their MPs, is reproduced in full below:

Dear [MP Name]

On Tuesday May 19^th a delegation from Yorkshire's Transsexual communities will be visiting Parliament. We hope that you will spare some of your precious time to discuss our concerns about the standards of care at the clinic of the Leeds Gender Identity Service (Leeds GIS) that is situated at Seacroft Hospital, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

We can be contacted via email: claire_1@talktalk.net or at the address above.

Amongst our concerns about the clinics practises are:

1. As a condition for receiving treatment, the patients must prove that they are seeking work or education

• This is Leeds GIS' description of the process. Failure to comply will result in treatment being terminated
  
• This practice, whilst commendable in a Job Centre, surely has no place in a NHS Clinic
  
• Failure to meet the burden of proof will result in the patient's immediate discharge from the clinic
  

2. Leeds GIS reserves the right to require a patient to provide a letter from their employer to substantiate the claim that they are meeting the requirement to 'prove that the patient is seeking work or education'

• No consideration is given to the possible consequence for a patient asking their employer to write a letter to a psychiatrist
  
• Failure to comply with this stipulation will result in the patient's immediate discharge from the clinic
  

3. Leeds GIS, operational policy for 2009 stipulates that a patient cannot commence a course of electrolysis or laser treatment to remove any facial hair prior to obtaining the consent from the GIS to do so.

• This kind of treatment is available at many high street beauticians
  
• Any other member of the public can access the services of such an establishment without seeking the consent of their GP
  
• In the case of a patient from Leeds GIS the failure to obtain the clinic's consent is deemed to be a serious breach of the regulations and will result in a written warning and/or potentially the patient's discharge from Leeds GIS
  

4. Patients who have not yet taken the step of publicly presenting themselves in society in the gender they identify with must do so by the completion of the period of assessment. Failure to comply with this condition will result in the person being discharged from the clinic

• In one recent case, a gang pursued an individual, who happens to live on a housing estate
  
• They who took photos of her when she appeared in public. She daren't try it again where she currently lives
  
• Her neighbour, who said that he is a member of the British National Party, has threatened to kill her. These incidents were not drawn to the police because she did not wish to draw further attention to herself.
  
• She attends the clinic in male clothing whilst she is trying to move
  
• The clinic is aware of the situation and has given her an ultimatum to appear in female clothing within three months or be discharged
  

5. Leeds GIS refuses to acknowledge the implications of a gender recognition certificate or reissued birth certificate in circumstances in which a person is in possession of such at the first appointment

• Leeds GIS insists that such persons undergo the same assessment and treatment regime as a person who is unsure of their gender
  
• This despite having forefilled the criteria that is laid down within the Gender Recognition Act
  

6. The assessment and care pathway at Leeds GIS is the longest of any gender identity clinic in the country

• There is no medical proof substantiating why Yorkshire transsexual's are deemed, by the clinic to require such an intrusive and overbearing regulatory regime
  
• This consists of assessment appointments, held monthly at monthly intervals but soon to be reduced to fortnightly
  
• Held during office hours at times that are convenient to the clinic
  
• These are mandatory and a person who misses two appointments is automatically discharged
  
• Elsewhere just two assessment appointments are required
  
• The minimum care pathway is two to three years in duration contrasted by about eighteen month elsewhere
  

7. When a person is involuntarily discharged from the clinic, they will receive no further treatment within the NHS for gender identity dysphoria

• There are five Gender Identity Clinic's in England, Leeds GIS is one of them
  
• Patients in West Yorkshire, other than in Calderdale, are not given a right to choose which clinic they wish to be treated at
  

The above is part of a pattern of persistent and sustained abuse and intimidation of patients by those who work at Leeds GIS. This is persistent problem because this has been the care culture at the GIS for over a decade. That care culture can be summarised as a "Compliance culture" that requires its patients to obey the regulations or incur sanctions. Conversely the clinic does not see it as part of its function to address the personal needs of the patient (i.e. write a letter to the local Authority to support the relocation of the patient in the case mentioned above).

We believe that these practices are immoral and without comparison anywhere else within the NHS. We also believe that these practises do not have the sanction of the Department of Health (DoH). These practises are actually contrary to the published guidelines and ethos of the DoH. We believe that these practices are flagrant breeches of the Human Rights Act and Gender Recognition Act (2004) by intimidating and disempowering vulnerable people.

We make these statements after consulting with various lawyers specialising in these fields.

Last month Calderdale Metropolitan Borough (MBC) Health Scrutiny Panel, voted unanimously to request of Leeds GIS' that it immediately suspend its 2009 "Operational Policy" pending consultation with the Health Scrutiny Panel. The grounds for the motion being due to the belief that the 2009 policy is even more proscriptive than its predecessor in terms of compliance with the rules and new regulations that the patient will meet.

Two weeks latter, by phone call not a letter, someone from Leeds GIS called a clerk at the MBC and told them that they will not suspend the 2009 policy. As far Leeds GIS is concerned, that was the end of the matter and there has been no response to any further correspondence with Leeds GIS from Calderdale PCT or Calderdale MBC.

The issues surrounding Leeds GIS have been brought to the attention of the Equality and Human Rights Commission who are examining documents forwarded to them.

Leeds GIS is obsessively secretive. It baulks at any contact with Yorkshire's Transsexual community beyond patients attending the clinic.

Leeds GIS barely communicates with PCT, except on financial matters. MPs and Town Councils have had to use Freedom of Information requests just to establish how many people are being treated at the clinic. There has only been one formal meeting with a council health committee and that occurred only after Health Scrutiny Committee threatened to report the issue to the DoH.

The campaign to reform Leeds GIS is now into its sixth year and it is at stalemate because Leeds GIS is in a position to block reforms in West Yorkshire that are being implemented elsewhere within the NHS.

We, the advocates of reform, do not intend to give up easily and wish to get these changes through. We therefore wish to discuss these issues with you when we visit the House of Commons on Tuesday May 19^th.

Yours truly,

 

Ms C. Eastwood
Trans Yorkshire