There are more egregious examples of this power imbalance between NHS clinicians and patients. As recently as 2018, GPs seeking to refer patients to the Leeds and York Gender Identity Clinic were incorrectly instructed to conduct a physical examination of their patients’ genitals,30 guidance which has now fortunately been removed. Neither international best-practice guidance nor the NHS England specification for gender identity services endorses genital exams as being in any way routine; both explicitly state they cannot be required of patients. However, for some trans people who are told they
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