National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group minutes: May 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Professor Nicola Steedman, (Co-chair), Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government
• Dr Ewan Bell, (Co-chair), Associate Medical Director, NHS Dumfries and Galloway
• Neil Ferguson, Director of West of Scotland Regional Planning
• Jane Harris, Head of Programme, Postgraduate and Post-registration Education and Continuing Professional Development, NHS Education for Scotland
• Kathryn Kinnear, Service Manager, Elmwood Gender Identity Clinic, NHS Grampian
• Dr Anna Lamont, Medical Director, National Procurement Commissioning and Facilities, NHS National Services Scotland
• Catriona Johnson, Associate Director, NHS National Services Scotland
• Rhoda Macleod, Head of Sexual Health, Prison and Police services, Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Dr Louise Melvin, Clinical Lead, Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Dr Christine Mimnagh, CMAGIC Clinical Lead, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
• David Parker, Senior Educator/Subject Matter Expert, NHS Education for Scotland
• Dr Fiona Wardell, Standards and Indicators Team Lead, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Dr Michelle Watts, Senior Medical Advisor, Scottish Government
• Lived Experience Coordinator
• Representative, Scottish Trans Alliance
• Jennifer Layden, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Linsey Galbraith, Principal Information Analyst, Public Health Scotland
• Katrina Mitchell, Development Worker, LGBT Health and Wellbeing
• Dr Fiona Gibson, Clinician, NHS Highland
• Cliff Sharp, Chair of the Standards Development Group, Health Improvement Scotland
• Representative, LGBT Youth Scotland
• Parent Representative, TransParentSees
• Scottish Government Secretariat

Apologies

• Dr Richard Anderson, Deputy Director Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh
• Adam Black, Nurse Consultant/ Clinical Nurse Manager Sexual & Reproductive Health, Chalmers Gender Identity Clinic, NHS Lothian
• Dr Ruth Pearce, Lecturer, University of Glasgow

Items and actions

Welcome and minutes of previous meeting 

Nicola Steedman (NS) welcomed attendees to the tenth meeting of the National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group (the Group). Apologies were noted.

Minutes of the previous meeting were approved by those attending and NS noted that these will be published online in due course. Progress and completion of previous actions arising from the last meeting were noted.

Policy update

Scottish Government provided an update on current workstreams.

An update was given regarding feedback territorial boards have provided to Scottish Government in relation to proposed plans and spend for 2023/24 financial year, for gender identity service improvement. It was confirmed that allocation letters for 23/24 will be issued in due course.

It was confirmed that the University of Glasgow were the successful applicant in a Chief Scientist Office led bid to host research into long term health outcomes of gender identity healthcare. The University of Glasgow are now making arrangements to progress academic work in this space.

A discussion took place relating to information provided so far to support the Lived Experience Coordinator in their engagement, in the form of a reference paper. It was agreed sharing of this information to the wider Group would be helpful. It was agreed this would be finalised shortly and circulated.

It was noted to the Group that NHS England’s previously announced replacement specialist clinical centres for children and young people have now been delayed until at least  late 2023.

Reviewing the Group

It was noted that the Group have now met 10 times since its establishment in March 2022. The Group were invited to consider its composition, work to date and future priorities. NS updated members on feedback received to date on these points, which was broadly positive.

In recognition of where the Group now is in relation to publication of Scottish Government’s December 2021 framework for gender identity service improvement, it was raised that a future meeting of this forum would revisit progress made to date against it. This was agreed to be a positive proposal. It was agreed the next meeting will take this into account and consider evaluation of the 2021 Framework.

A discussion took place on what further (if any) senior Health Board leadership and/or strategic input may be required for this forum. It was agreed current membership was suitable in this regard.

In light of work the University of Glasgow are expected to take forward in this field, it was agreed a representative from the research team will be invited to join the Group.

There was a discussion regarding Scottish Government’s engagement to date with members of the NHS England Cass review. It was agreed that the review would be invited to send a representative to a meeting later in the year to give an overview of their ongoing work and expected timelines for outcomes.

Young People’s Gender Service – update

NHS National Services Scotland, National Services Division (NSD) provided an update about their ongoing work in relation to nationally commissioning a young people’s gender service for NHS Scotland.

Work is progressing on specifications. It was confirmed NSD are considering subject matter experts and will engage further with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GG&C) in relation to current service provision and its structure.

NHS GG&C provided an update on the current service which is experiencing significant ongoing challenges with recruitment. However, work is progressing with a   focus on better supporting those on the waiting list. It was confirmed there has also been further engagement with local Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

NHS National Education for Scotland

NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) reported they have begun work on the development of the commissioned Transgender Care Knowledge and Skills Framework. It is expected that development of the framework would be followed by  resource scoping to identify gaps in training/development resources to support best care of trans people accessing NHS Scotland services.

AOB

No other business was raised and the meeting was closed.

Members were reminded to send any additional thoughts or feedback on any of the items to the Gender Identity and Healthcare Access Team who are providing secretariat: genderidentityhealth@gov.scot.