HEALTH authorities have defended record keeping at a Hunter clinic devoted to helping trans and gender diverse youth amid claims its system is "substandard and dangerous".
Upper House MP Greg Donnelly claims NSW Health does not have a "functioning and accessible record keeping system" that details the birth sex of patients receiving treatment at Maple Leaf House, an outpatient clinic of John Hunter Children's Hospital.
It comes as NSW Health Minister Ryan Park branded the state's existing health record system "complex, cumbersome and outdated" ahead of a streamlined digital patient record system's rollout in a state first.
"In NSW hospitals we've got multiple systems, multiple databases, multiple digital platforms ... it doesn't work," Mr Park said.
A NSW Health spokesperson said "Maple Leaf House uses appropriate record keeping systems and collects comprehensive medical information that is relevant to the safe management of our clients".
"NSW Health is committed to providing evidence-based, holistic and age-appropriate care for trans and gender diverse young people."
In December 2022, Mr Donnelly made a GIPA application to Hunter New England Health seeking statistics and related information about Maple Leaf House.
In subsequent proceedings in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and discussions with the Crown Solicitor's Office, it was confirmed that Hunter New England Health "does not hold a document of any kind" relating to the breakdown of the clinic's patients by birth sex, Mr Donnelly said.
However, the health district "decided to create a document which partially responds to the questions posed in your access application", a letter to Mr Donnelly from the Crown Solicitor's Office said.
Mr Donnelly said the document showed that 487 children and adolescents were treated by Maple Leaf from April 2021 - when it opened - to September last year.
The letter said: "Maple Leaf House does not require a patient's response to the 'sex' field in the patient information system to reflect the patient's natal [relating to birth] sex.
"Rather, some patients respond to the 'sex' field with their identified gender as opposed to their natal sex."
The letter said the patients' birth sex would be known to the medical professionals treating them.
"This information is recorded in documents such as the treating clinician's notes, which form part of an individual's patient record," it said.
Federal guidelines on sex and gender "recognise that individuals may identify as a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth".
Or, they may not identify as "exclusively male or female" and "this should be reflected in records held by the government".
"The standard can be used by government, academic and private sector organisations," it states.
NSW Health recently released a framework to "address the growing demand in NSW for expert clinical care for trans and gender diverse young people", which sought to ensure that health services "affirm the person's gender".
- Lifeline 13 11 14
