Over 70 doctors register change of gender

AT LEAST 77 doctors have changed gender on the General Medical Council (GMC) register, The Telegraph can reveal.

The figure – supplied by the GMC to gender-critical Labour Baroness Hayter – is for records since 2003 and has raised concerns that patients could be treated by medics of the opposite sex without their knowledge or consent.

Just two of the 77 doctors have informed the GMC that they have obtained a UK Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), the document which provides legal recognition of the change.

It raises the possibility that doctors are being allowed to self-identify at will to change gender on the register without further checks.

An unknown number have gone through a “gender change recognition” process before coming to the UK. A total of 14 doctors changed gender on the GMC register in 2022 and nine in 2023.

Writing to Baroness Hayter, former shadow deputy leader of the House of Lords, Prof Dame Carrie MacEwen, the GMC’s chairman, said that “the data on the published register may not reflect, in all cases, a doctor’s sex at birth”.

It means that patients cannot find out if their doctor is male or female from the register. MacEwen told Hayter: “We believe that patients who want to see a doctor of a particular sex or gender are more likely to seek and be able to obtain this information from their local healthcare providers – not from our register.”

When Hayter pressed the importance of patients knowing their doctor’s sex, the GMC responded that the “the primary purpose” of the register was to show that doctors have “the appropriate training, skills and experience”.

The GMC also provided reassurance that patients could use a chaperone, but the policy means patients will not know in advance whether to ask for one, because their doctor’s biological sex is not shown.

The GMC said it had stopped asking for GRC from doctors in 2010 “because many found it difficult to secure one”.

It added: “The doctor’s entry on the medical register in their previous name, gender and GMC number will in most cases remain, unless there is a risk of disclosing their transgender status which has legal protection.”

A GMC spokesman said: “We recognise that some people will, for various reasons, want to see a doctor of the same sex, and the relevant healthcare provider – whether a GP practice, sexual health clinic, or other service – is best placed to handle such requests to ensure those patients’ needs are met.

“They will also be able to take other steps where appropriate, for example, by providing a chaperone.”