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GIDS Deaths 01/12/20 to 31/03/24 & Prescribed Puberty Blockers

Reference: 24-25179

Date response sent: 07/08/2024

Details of enquiry

  1. The number of patients who were removed from your patient list because of death between 1stAugust 2017 and 1 December 2020 who had been prescribed puberty blockers.
  2. The number of patients who were removed from your patient list because of death between 1stDecember 2020 and 31 March 2024 who had been prescribed puberty blockers.

Response sent

  1. The number of patients who were removed from your patient list because of death between 1stAugust 2017 and 1 December 2020 who had been prescribed puberty blockers.
  2. The number of patients who were removed from your patient list because of death between 1stDecember 2020 and 31 March 2024 who had been prescribed puberty blockers.

The Trust neither confirms nor denies that the requested data is held.

Given the age of the individuals when they died it is unlikely that they ever had any expectation that information related to them would be placed into the public domain.

This is especially important when low number principles apply, as identified by Professor Louis Appleby in his recent report: Review of suicides and gender dysphoria at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: independent report – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Trust will not be releasing this information, if held, because it abides by the common law duty of confidentiality, as explained below:

a. The common law duty of confidentiality restricts the identification of individuals who may have received services from the Trust

b. The duty of confidence extends after the death of individuals:

i. Confidentiality after death Section 2: The common law of confidentiality and consent – NHS England Digital

ii. When an individual has died, information relating to that individual remains confidential under the common law (see for example Bluck v The Information Commissioner and Epsom and St Helier University NHS Trust, 2007, Lewis v Redfern Nicholas Lewis (Claimant) v Secretary of State for Health (Defendant) & Michael Redfern QC (Interested Party) [2008] EWHC 2196 (QB), Plon (Societe) v France (Application no 58148/00). Judgment of the Second Chamber of the Strasbourg Court (May 18 2004)).

iii. An ethical obligation to the relatives of the deceased exists and health records of the deceased are public records and governed by the provisions of the Public Records Act 1958. This permits the use and disclosure of the information within them in only limited circumstances.

The Access to Health Records Act 1990 permits access to the records of a deceased person by those with a claim arising out of that individual’s death.

This right of access is negated however if the deceased individual concerned requested that a note denying access be included within the record prior to their death (this might be part of a formal advance directive).

c. The data may already be publicly available under other legal regimes

The Trust recognises that the information you have requested might already be in the public domain, published under a different legal framework.  This does not affect the Trust’s belief and adherence to the principles of confidentiality after death, as set our above.

In order to be helpful to you, we have provided below examples of potentially alternative sources of the data requested.

i. You may be interested to note that there is no equivalent statutory provision in relation to social care records. Local authorities generally provide access to social care records through the Freedom of Information Act. However, the guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on s.41 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) means that relatives could pursue a case for breach of confidence ICO: Practical guidance: Information about the deceased).

ii. Another example could be that whenever Inquests are held, linked to a Prevention of Future Deaths report (Regulation 28 Report to Prevent Future Deaths), the name of the deceased will be published and placed into the public domain by a coroner. This does not cover every death in the country.

It might be that the data you seek could be reached via either of the following publicly available links; one shows data by name of the deceased, and the other shows a listing by Trust.

i. Reports to Prevent Future Deaths – Courts and Tribunals Judiciary searchable by deceased’s name, and includes where an organisation may have responded

ii. Reg 28 Reports Tracker Database – Preventable Deaths Tracker

Searchable by any of the fields which sort into alphabetical order, by clicking on any column header.  Also available for reuse as a purchase.

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