Doctors who change gender are having their medical records scrubbed, the General Medical Council (GMC) has admitted.
The GMC – the body which regulates doctors – has admitted that doctors changing gender are handed a brand new registration number, meaning past histories of incidents, concerns or wrongdoing are no longer visible on their new record.
The move amounts to effectively scrubbing the public disciplinary history of trans doctors who change gender.
Following the discovery, Health Secretary Wes Streeting was seen to condemn the wiping of doctors’ records, labelling the practice "extremely concerning".
The Health Secretary has also called for an urgent overhaul of the practice.
The issue follows the case of Sandie Peggie, an NHS nurse suspended for objecting to a transgender doctor Dr Beth Upton using female changing rooms.
The alarming oversight came to light after a retired anaesthetist contacted The Telegraph to flag concerns that the doctor had been given a new registration number to the paper.
He was seen to flag major concerns over Dr Upton being handed a new registration number, leading the GMC to admit that trans doctors are handed a new, clean record after transitioning to a new gender.
"Because the GMC has an even more important role than it did a couple of decades ago – recording and marking the careers of doctors – people need to be confident about the identities of doctors,” the whistleblower said.
“If a doctor had received a historical sanction [i.e. the suspension is no longer in place] prior to transitioning, this information would not be available on their new public-facing record on the medical register,” says a GMC spokesman.
The GMC confirmed that Dr Upton was among 62 doctors to have been handed new registration numbers under the body's current policy.
In essence, the move means that future patients would be unable to see any historic record details relating their doctor if searched on the GMC’s publicly available online database.
The GMC, which holds a public register of all doctors, permits patients and the wider public to check whether a medic has been subject to previous suspensions or has been struck off.
The Health Secretary added the situation should “not have been allowed”.
Speaking with the Telegraph following the claims, he said: “This is extremely concerning, and should not have been allowed to happen.
“It is completely within the power of the GMC to find a workaround for this that means transparency for patients, as well as protections in the Equality Act, are preserved.
"I expect them to make reassurances that they will address this.”
