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A transgender person was outed on a doctor’s waiting room screen after a struggle to change their title from ‘Miss’ to ‘Mr’.

The blunder came to light at a meeting of health bosses from Hartlepool and Stockton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

They admitted “gaps” in training staff to be more aware of transgender issues, after a guest from the ‘Trans Aware’ charity spoke at the event.

Ellie Lowther, director of the Stockton-based charity, told the meeting that someone sitting in a doctor’s waiting room was outed on screen as a transgender person when their name came up, after a struggle to change Miss to Mr.

She also warned a number of transgender people have taken to self-harm, because of the issues they have faced.

The ‘Trans Aware’ charity looks to make sure anyone affected by gender identity issues feel supported across Teesside.

It also offers awareness training specifically towards helping people gain a greater understanding of transgender and non binary issues.

The CCG said it would look to incorporate it at a meeting of the CCG Governing Bodies public meeting.

Ellie told the meeting: “It’s great to hear about the excellent work the CCG has been doing but there are still massive problems for the transgender and non-binary communities.

“There’s a lack of education around these gender issues.

“There’s a two-year waiting period for a lot of people for gender diversity clinics.

“It leads to people buying hormones online. More work needs to be done to differ between gender identity and sexual orientation.

“Education is key, we need to stop tolerating and start accepting. It’s an endemic in society, you get it in schools, you get it at the doctors, you get it in shops.”

Health bosses at the meeting thanked her for the message and said they will look at how to take action to raise awareness of transgender issues.

They also said they would speak with the appropriate authorities to look at providing training offered by the charity.

Chief Officer of the CCG, Ali Wilson, said at the meeting: “We know we have gaps in these services and we’re pleased to have you here.

“These issues are about helping real people. I’m not sure anyone has had anything specific like this training before.

“These sort of things we should be doing.”

The training aims to provide a full understanding of transgender and non-binary issues, specifically from a gender identity perspective, and help people understand the difficulties they face.

It also aims to help people be better equipped to help to tackle prejudice and promote understanding within the workplace and the wider community.

Trans Aware became the first registered charity in the North-east specifically aimed towards the needs of transgender and non-binary people, when it formed last year.