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GIC Prescribing of Cross Sex Hormones – Consent

Reference: 25-26246

Date response sent: 17/09/2025

Details of enquiry

This request is to the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000,  I request the information below regarding the consent process for prescribing Cross sex hormones.

 

  1. All protocols and/or guidelines that are used when consenting an adult prior to the prescribing of cross sex hormones, including how capacity is assessed and the list of adverse effects that are discussed.
  2. A copy of the consent form used

Response sent

  1. All protocols and/or guidelines that are used when consenting an adult prior to the prescribing of cross sex hormones, including how capacity is assessed and the list of adverse effects that are discussed.

The protocols/guidelines you have requested are attached, as follows:

  1. Att 1: Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-binary People (Assigned Female at Birth), issued April 2025
  2. Att 2: Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender women, Transfeminine and Non-binary People, issued April 2025 (Assigned Male at Birth), issued April 2025

All GIC patients are assumed to have Capacity in line with the Mental Capacity Act.  Where there is a reasonable reason to suspect a lack of capacity for this specific decision, the assessment is undertaken by a clinician with psychological qualifications (a psychiatrist or psychologist).

Because every patient is different the process of discussing endocrine treatment and obtaining consent is not generic, and is tailored to each individual GIC patient.

Once, informed consent is obtained and confirmed as having been obtained, this is recorded in the patient’s electronic record including confirmation that alternative treatments (including no treatment) had been discussed with the patient.

At that stage, a prescribing agreement/recommendation is generated, which the patient and the GIC clinician must sign to signify their respective agreement.  That prescribing agreement is then sent to the patient and to the patient’s GP (General Practitioner), who would be expected to follow the recommendation and undertake the day-to-day prescribing of cross-sex hormones.

  1. A copy of the consent form used

This is included towards the end of both attached documents.

 

You will note that we have withheld the names of contributors within the attached protocols, our Trust’s policy is not to release into the public domain, the names of staff who are below Executive Director level. This is explained in more detail in our FOI policy: Freedom of information policy – Tavistock and Portman .

This personal data is also exempt under Section 40(2) of the FOIA, Personal information about third parties, where complying with the request would contravene the UK General Protection Regulation or the Data Protection Act 2018. This is an absolute exemption that does not require the authority to carry out the public interest test.

We have also masked the telephone number for the GP hormone advice line, as this is intended for professional use only, and is not intended for public release, (every response to a request under FOIA constitutes a release into the, unregulated, public domain.

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