Female Genital Mutilation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has issued guidance to clinicians on appropriate language to use when recording, reporting and discussing cases of female genital mutilation.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Home Office, the Department for Education, and the Department of Health and Social Care issued multi-agency statutory guidance on female genital mutilation (FGM), which as updated in July 2020. The guidance ensures that health and other staff understand their role in responding to FGM, and that there are policies and procedures in place to protect women and girls who have undergone or are at risk of FGM.
NHS England is currently updating the e-learning training for the Healthcare FGM Module for publication in 2026. This training has a section on communication and includes the importance of sensitive language, including asking healthcare staff to check which terminology the woman or girl prefers. The training will provide healthcare staff with the skills to consider, recognise, and discuss FGM with the women and girls they support, and provide sensitive and trauma-informed response.
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