Christine Burns - Political Work and Departure From PFC - NHS and International Health Advisor

NHS and International Health Advisor

The Department of Health set up a Sexual Orientation Advisory Group (SOAG) in 2004. After lobbying from Press for Change, the Department of Health changed the name to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Advisory Group (SOGIAG) to be more inclusive of trans needs and identities. Burns was invited to chair the transgender workstream of SOGIAG in 2005. As chair, she saw the need for research and official literature supportive of treatment and setting standards so, in 2006, she commissioned nine publications – ranging from guidance for GPs to advice for young people. Following this, the Department of Health commissioned her directly to write a resource for NHS managers and policymakers called "Trans: A Practical Guide for the NHS".

During her time as Chair (July 2006 - May 2010) Burns invited Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic into discussions at SOGIAG and at the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism. In 2009, she interviewed Stuart Lorimer, a clinician at London's Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic. The same year she was formally appointed to the Department of Health's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Group.

In 2005, the North West public sector agencies, led by the Northwest Development Agency and Northwest Regional Assembly, began preparing a regional equality and diversity strategy. Burns became involved via a public engagement panel, which went on to become the North West Equality and Diversity Group (NWEDG). As NWEDG's chair, Burns also sat on the North West's Equality Strategy Group (ESG). Through NWEDG and ESG, she helped set up an annual regional celebration of diversity called "Celebr8, Don't Discrimin8". The campaign included a series of short films, some of which are available on YouTube.

She was invited to consult on a number of projects for NHS Northwest, including research and analysis leading to the publication of "A Landscape of the Region", (which she wrote for the SHA). She subsequently became the programme manager for the health authority's Equality and Diversity team in 2009. She has worked on a series of resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people including an LGBT history timeline, monitoring guidelines and a GP benchmarking tool, Pride in Practice. On the importance of the LGBT timeline, Christine said: "Knowing our histories might just make life a bit easier for our communities to have role models and assure our place in organisations like the NHS." She was also directly involved in the creation of the first performance management framework for equality outcomes in the NHS, the Equality Performance Improvement Toolkit (EPIT) and the NHS's competency framework for leadership of equality and diversity.

The UK LGBT Health Summits

The first UK LGBT Health Summit was held in London in 2006 with over 160 healthcare professionals, voluntary and statutory sector professionals, activists, community organisers and grass roots campaigners. The LGBT Health Summit grew out of SOGIAG's work with the Department of Health and Burns, among others, secured proper trans involvement from the start. She was co-chair of the LGBT Health Summit 2010, and produced a mini documentary for the occasion.

Her recognised leadership and knowledge of trans people in healthcare was recognised by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which invited Burns to be the British representative on its international advisory panel. The panel had influence over the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People's seventh edition. It also made advisory input to the submissions WPATH have made to the International Classification of Diseases revision process in the World Health Organisation.