a reply from the northampton gender clinic

Toward the end of 2025, I wrote a complaint to the Northampton GDC, which you can see here. Yesterday, they replied to me. Unsurprisingly, it's a complete nothing-burger. I'll be sending a further response, so keep eyes out for that.

The text from the response is as follows:

Thank you for your email to Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, in respect to Northamptonshire Gender Identity Clinic, and particularly the GIC website. We appreciate and value your feedback and understand that certain terms can feel uncomfortable or unclear.

For Northamptonshire Gender Identity Service, it is fundamentally important to be open and transparent in respect to the side effects of hormone therapy. This is a core component of the informed consent process, which respects our service user’s autonomy and ensure our service users can make a fully informed decisions about this life changing medical interventions.

Furthermore, we must ensure our service users fully understand the implications of hormone therapy. Complex medical jargon can be a significant barrier; therefore, we use simple, clear language when explaining these aspects of hormone therapy and side effects of this therapy. In our communication, we try not to assume our service users understanding of medical terms. When discussing anatomy, medical procedures, medication, and side effects. For us, it is important to be specific and use language that is relevant and descriptive. GICs have different approaches to this communication and phrasing of terms. Northamptonshire GIC uses plain language to ensure the information is accessible.

In terms of hormone therapy and the side effects, the term lumpy breasts. Northamptonshire GIC aims to use terms that are both medically accurate and understandable as a way to describe potential side effects from hormone therapy. Many medical professionals use the terms ‘breast tenderness’, ‘breast engorgement’, or ‘breast lumpiness’ to describe common side effects. This term may also accurately describe the service user symptoms so that the GIC team can determine if the changes are typical or if they require further investigation. Northamptonshire GIC recognise the importance of simple language in empowering our service users to be active participants in their healthcare decisions. This ensures our service users preferences and goals for treatment are understood. We further understand that not all people are at the same level of English proficiency, therefore, using plain language ensures the information is accessible to a wider range of people, regardless of their educational attainment.

Please feel reassured that Northamptonshire GIC, we continually review our language and terminology to ensure it remains sensitive and accessible. May we further reassure that Northamptonshire GIC is involved in a large-scale quality improvement programme and a review of the website is part of this programme. We will review this term as part of ongoing quality improvement programme to ensure our language remains sensitive and appropriate.

Kind regards

Stephen Pope Head of Service Northamptonshire Gender Identity Clinic