The number of hospital or GP attendances regarding female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased by 15% over the past year, according to figures published by the NHS.
There were 14,355 attendances in the 2023-24 financial year according to NHS Digital statistics, compared to 12,475 the previous year.
There was also an increase in the number of individual women and girls who visited NHS services in regards to FGM, rising from 5,870 in 2022-23 to 6,655 in 2023-24. Attendances are a different measurement as an individual can have multiple attendances in a year.
FGM is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed when there is no medical reason for this to be done. The procedure has been illegal in the UK since 1985, and in 2003 the law was strengthened in order to prevent girls travelling from the UK and undergoing FGM abroad.
Since the NHS began collecting statistics regarding FGM in 2015, there has been a total of 37,615 individual women and girls having FGM reported by NHS Trusts and GP practices, and a total of 102,155 attendances regarding the condition.
Barnardo’s National FGM Centre was set up in 2015 to support those who have experienced FGM and works with local government, police and the NHS to identify girls at risk.
Rohma Ullah, Head of Barnardo’s National FGM Centre, said there was often a gap between FGM happening and it being recorded because of it most commonly being picked up during midwife or obstetrician appointments.
“Female genital mutilation is a form of child abuse which has a devastating and deadly impact on the lives of girls and women. At the heart of each case is a girl who has been cut,” Ullah said.
She added: “More needs to be done to protect girls – and to offer support for all those affected. That support just isn’t available at the moment.
“We know that preventing FGM needs to be treated as a public health issue. Change must come from working within communities who are affected by it and local authorities need to develop strategies that allow for dialogue with their communities.
“It is also vital to introduce mandatory training for anyone who works to support children and vulnerable adults. That training should focus on how to spot the signs of girls who might be at risk or who have undergone FGM – as well as how to alert the relevant support services.”
In 2019, the NHS announced the opening of eight specialist FGM walk-in clinics across England, which provide access to support for thousands of women.
In 2023, a woman was found guilty of handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) during a trip to Kenya, in the first conviction of its kind.
NHS England have been approached for comment.
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