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Staff making assumptions about gender

Posted By octoberpq73

"Staff making assumptions about gender"

About: Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske)

(as a relative),

I have been to Treliske a couple of times for appointments and been treated as she/her. big shout out to the colonoscopy staff.

I went recently to pick up a friend. She had fabulous care while there. I was trying to find her and asked a staff member for help. This staff member asked a couple of other staff if they new where my friend was, because this Gentleman was looking for her. Bear in mind I was dressed in only female clothing. Dress, tights, boots. It's all I wear since coming out 16 months ago.

Come on Treliske the clothes give a clue to a persons gender, don't assume by things like voice.

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Responses

Response from Michael Stevens, LGBTQ+ Lead, RCHT about a year and a half ago
Michael Stevens
LGBTQ+ Lead,
RCHT

Submitted on 14/10/2022 at 12:34
Published on Care Opinion at 12:34

Dear Octoberpq73,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. I’m sorry that it fell far short of the experience we aim to provide, and that I’m sure you would expect.

I am the LGBTQ+ Lead for Trust and take instances of mis gendering very seriously. We do have a transgender and non-binary awareness training session available to staff, which is currently undergoing an annual update, part of which provides clearer guidance for confirming someone’s gender identity and preferred pronouns.

I’m glad that your friend did at least receive fabulous care. I’d like to share this feedback with the department lead for Colonoscopy, together with some guidance for their staff to prevent a recurrence of this incident. If there is anything you would like to contribute to this based on your personal experience, I would be more than happy to include that in my feedback. You can do this either by responding to this post, or by emailing the Patient Engagement team who will forward on your details to me - their email address is rcht.patientengagement@nhs.net

Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience with us.

Kind Regards,

Mikey Stevens

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