Transgender patients wait up to 18 months for initial consultation in England
It has been reported that transgender people are waiting up to 18 months for an initial consultation with specialist NHS gender identity clinics.
NHS guidelines suggest that an initial appointment for surgery and hormone replacement should take a maximum of 18 weeks.
According to the BBC, people seeking gender reassignment at one of England’s only eight specialist centres could wait an extra three years.
A shortage of “suitably qualified staff” has been blamed for the wait by NHS England and an extra £4million has been funded for these services.
There are currently around 4,500 referrals to gender identity clinics in England per year. The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee report that the demand for the clinics is growing at 25-30% each year.
At the current rate, the committee is forecasting waiting times for physical surgery to be at three-and-a-half years, by 2017. NHS England is aiming to bring waiting times to below 18 weeks by 2018.
A full look at the issue will be shown on BBC Inside Out North West on BBC1 from 19:30 on Monday.
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