Gender Svcs Suicides & Unexplained Deaths & Appleby Review Data
Reference: 24-25489
Date response sent: 04/03/2025
Details of enquiry
I am writing to request:
- data regarding number of suicide and unexplained deaths by patients of the gender services at Tavistock and Portman.
a. I request an online account of the data, not a paper copy.
b. I request data that covers each year since 2018 to date, current and former patients, divided by age (under 18/over 18) and cause of death.
c. Where not possible to give specific causes of death, I request that the data specifies whether it was by confirmed suicide, suspected suicide, or unnatural death.
- data regarding Professor Louis Appleby’s review.
- I request an online account of the data, not a paper copy.
- I request data that covers the time period between 2020 and 2025.
- I request the following data:
- email exchanges between NHS England/ Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust/relevant NHS representative and Professor Louis Appleby regarding gender clinics, services, and gender dysphoria.
- a copy of the data NHS England/Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust/ relevant NHS representative provided to Professor Appleby to carry out the review
- any and all other information/communications regarding the review by Professor Appleby of Tavistock gender services.
Response sent
- data regarding number of suicide and unexplained deaths by patients of the gender services at Tavistock and Portman.
a. I request an online account of the data, not a paper copy.
b. I request data that covers each year since 2018 to date, current and former patients, divided by age (under 18/over 18) and cause of death.
c. Where not possible to give specific causes of death, I request that the data specifies whether it was by confirmed suicide, suspected suicide, or unnatural death.
The Trust confirms that it does not hold a validated register of deaths nor a validated tally of deaths by suicide or unnatural causes by year for the period 2018 to date
As a provider of national non-acute outpatient services, we would not be in a position to always know and/or always be notified when or how a patient died, and, where received, this would often be quite belated. All patient deaths notified to us are reported, as a ‘Serious Incident’.
The Trust recognises that there is a significant public interest argument linked to disclosure of the deaths of service users and the potential causes, including suicide, but at the same time the number and variations of requests for the data places a significant cost burden on the Trust and takes staff away from other roles that are critical to maintain its services.
The Trust will only release information about deaths (including suicide) retrospectively and in line with its publication schedule including publication of the Quality Accounts which are placed into the public domain on its website.
The Trust’s mortality data, where held, is publicly available on our website in its Annual Report and Accounts, Quarterly Board Meeting papers, and FOI Disclosure Log –(all are word searchable and publicly available via the links below:
Tavistock and Portman Annual Report & Accounts many may include Quality Accounts Section
Tavistock and Portman Quality Accounts where produced as a separate document
Tavistock and Portman Board meetings and board papers on the pages listed below.
Tavistock and Portman Freedom of Information Disclosure Log
Any more recently received updates since publication are withheld from disclosure until their next scheduled edition/s, under s22 of FOIA 2000 – – intended for future publication, in one or more of the above-listed publications.
The next edition of the annual report and accounts for 2024/25 will be published around Summer/Autumn 2025, subject to its completion date and having been laid before Parliament.
Other Publicly Available Sources
The Trust recognises that the information you have requested might already be in the public domain, published under a different legal framework.
i. Local authorities generally provide access to social care records through FOIA
ii. Coroners publish names of deceased, post inquest and linked to a Prevention of Future Deaths report – does not cover all deaths
iii. Reports to Prevent Future Deaths – Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (searchable by deceased’s name, and includes where an organisation may have responded)
iv. Reg 28 Reports Tracker Database – Preventable Deaths Tracker (searchable by Trust)
Exemption Engaged under s22 of FOIA – Held for future publication
The Trust may hold more recently received data to that listed in points a) to d) above.
Under section 22 of FOIA 2000 the Trust is not obliged to release information intended for future publication, subject to the balance of weight of public interest test arguments.
Public interest considerations favouring disclosure:
- Disclosure would provide increased transparency via an early release of data
- Disclosure of the information under FOIA would be consistent with the Trust’s intentions to proactively release data on matters of a wider public interest.
Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information:
- Whilst there is a public interest in providing information quickly, this needs to be balanced against ensuring simultaneous data access by the general public rather than piecemeal by disclosure to a small number of applicants under FOIA.
- Adhering to the Trust’s publication schedules, ensures pre-publication time for verification checks prior to public release of the data held
- It is in the public interest that the Trust’s quality assurance process concludes before public release to ensure confidence and accuracy.
Balance of Weight
We have concluded that, on balance, the public interest is in withholding this information.
- data regarding Professor Louis Appleby’s review.
a. I request an online account of the data, not a paper copy.
b. I request data that covers the time period between 2020 and 2025.
The Trust cannot answer this question, because there was no liaison between Professor Appleby and the Trust prior to or during his Review of Suicides and Gender Dysphoria at the Trust, which was commissioned by NHS England and not by the Trust.
- I request the following data:
a. email exchanges between NHS England/ Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust/relevant NHS representative and Professor Louis Appleby regarding gender clinics, services, and gender dysphoria.
The Trust confirms were no tri-party emails between NHS England/Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust/ relevant NHS representative provided to Professor Appleby to carry out the review.
b. a copy of the data NHS England/Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust/ relevant NHS representative provided to Professor Appleby to carry out the review
This question would better be addressed to NHSE who commissioned the Review. Their FOI team may be reached via england.contactus@nhs.net because the Trust did not liaise with Professor Appleby nor his team, and did not commission nor have any dealings with the work of the review.
c. any and all other information/communications regarding the review by Professor Appleby of Tavistock gender services.
There is none to report – see our response to question 3b above.