Risk alert: Reporting cases of FGM

We have recently received several enquiries from members regarding their responsibilities when reporting cases of FGM in general practice.

Action points for GP practices

Patients aged under 18

• Girls under the age of 18 considered at risk should be referred as part of a doctor’s obligation to safeguard children to the appropriate local Children Services or the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub.
• Girls under the age of 18 who have undergone FGM should be referred to the police as well as to safeguarding.
• Data regarding the patient should be submitted to the FGM Prevalence Enhanced Dataset as outlined below.

Patients aged over 18

• Women presenting with FGM should be considered as potential victims of crime, and should be referred to the police and support services. Consent to such disclosure should normally be sought but even if withheld consideration should be given to disclosure in the public interest.
• Data regarding the patient should be submitted to the FGM Prevalence Enhanced Dataset as outlined below.

Patients of all ages

In October 2015 the requirement to submit data to the FGM Prevalence Enhanced Dataset became mandatory for GP practices. The FGM Prevalence Dataset requires organisations to record and collect information about the prevalence of FGM within the patient population as treated by the NHS in England.

This is a statistics gathering reporting duty for all cases no matter what age the patient is.

Guidance on FGM for professionals is available on the NHS choices website and further guidance on reporting to the FGM Prevalence Enhanced Dataset can be found on the Health and Social Care Information Centre website.

For more information on FGM see the Medical Protection factsheet.