Toolkit

Glossary

Gender identity - a person’s sense of having a particular gender. It is a way of describing the gender with which a person identifies such as a trans man, trans woman or as non-binary.

Gender identity clinic (GIC) - provides specialist NHS gender identity services including clinical assessment, treatment and specialist support.

Non-surgical interventions or treatment - non-surgical medical procedures are used to diagnose, measure, monitor or treat people for conditions or diseases that do not require surgery such as speed and language therapy.

Person-centred care - ensuring the people who use services are at the centre of decision making. It ensures that care is personalised and supports what matters to people. Person-centred care should be coordinated and enabling so that people can make choices, manage their own health and live independent lives, where possible. Care is focused on the needs of the individual accessing services.

Primary care - includes General Practitioners, community nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals. It is often the first point of contact someone has with the NHS. 

Trans people - an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs or does not fully correspond with their sex recorded at birth. This includes, but is not limited to, trans men, trans women and non-binary people.

Transition - the process of changing the way a person lives in order to match up with their gender identity. Examples of transitioning include the person changing their name, asking people to use different pronouns to address them and changing the way the person expresses their gender. For some people, accessing gender identity services will be for support, information and care. For others, it may involve medical treatments such as hormone therapy or surgery. "Transition” can mean different things to different people. Some people prefer the term gender reassignment.

Trauma informed - being able to recognise when someone may be affected by trauma. Services should take this into account when providing help and support. A model that is grounded in and directed by a complete understanding of how trauma exposure affects people's neurological, biological, psychological and social development. Services should take this into account when providing help and support.