In the UK, the General Medical Council (GMC) had proposed allowing doctors to voluntarily record their gender or gender identity, which would have enabled transgender doctors to conceal their biological sex. However, the plan was suspended following a Supreme Court ruling that transgender women are not legally considered women. Some argue that patients do not have a legal right to choose their treating doctor based on gender.

The GMC’s proposal would have permitted transgender doctors to obscure it their biological sex from the public medical register. According to The Telegraph, the Council intended for the change to allow doctors to record their gender identity or biological sex on a voluntary basis.

A Register Where Sex Is No Longer Clear

Traditionally, the GMC’s register has listed the sex of doctors as recorded at birth. However, in recent years, registration has increasingly been based on self-declared gender identity rather than biological sex.

This shift could make it more difficult for female patients to request a doctor of the same biological sex—something that is not a legal right, but can still be requested.

The GMC proposed removing the requirement to record a doctor’s sex or gender identity at registration, potentially making it easier for transgender doctors to avoid revealing discrepancies between their gender identity and biological sex.

Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, stated:

„We will continue to collect this information on a voluntary basis as part of our regular diversity monitoring efforts. As part of our work on promoting equality, we will carefully examine which data we need to collect.”

Massey emphasized that patients do not have a statutory right to be treated by a doctor of a particular sex.

No Legal Right, But Requests Are Permitted

There is currently no legal guarantee that patients can be treated by a doctor of the same sex. Nevertheless, patients may make such a request. The previous UK government had proposed legislating this right, but the amendment was not passed before the last parliamentary elections.

The purpose of the medical register is to ensure transparency regarding doctors’ qualifications, behavior and conduct. However, in February this year, The Telegraph revealed that the GMC had issued new registration numbers to doctors who changed their gender, deleting all previous details on the individual from the register.

„The Medical Register Must Be Properly Maintained”

Lady Hayter, a Labour politician, stressed that hospital wards designated for women should consist of biological women. Similarly, she argued, female patients requesting a female doctor have the right to know whether their doctor is biological a woman, as this forms the basis of their request.

„This must be taken into account, and the medical register must be maintained properly so that patients know the biological sex of their doctor,”

she told The Telegraph. The controversy followed the suspension of a nurse who raised concerns about a transgender doctor who identified as female but was biologically male and was using the women’s changing room.

Nurse Files Harassment Complaint Over Shared Changing Room with Biological Male Trans Doctor

Dr. Beth Upton, who was born male, underwent gender reassignment surgery and was subsequently issued a new registration number and recorded as a female doctor. Sandie Peggie, a nurse who shared the same changing facilities, filed a lawsuit against NHS Fife for discrimination and harassment following her suspension. The case has been postponed until July.

„It Does Not Serve the Best Interests of Patients”

The so-called Sullivan Report, which examines the situation, highlights that confusion around sex and gender identity has negative consequences. Among other things, it leads to the artificial increase of the proportion of female offenders in police records and to inadequate medical care for transgender individuals.

The report specifically called out the British Medical Association for recording gender identity rather than biological sex in medical records. At the same time, it acknowledged that the law uses the term „gender identity” instead of „sex,” which has caused confusion in recent years.