Monday 1 August 2016

There needs to be more clarity in transgender healthcare

There needs to be more clarity in transgender healthcare From hormones for under-16s to ‘bridging’ prescriptions, the guidance from both public and private providers lets trans people down. It’s incoherent

Imagine this: you’re the parent of a transgender 14-year-old. When they were born you thought your child was a girl, but it has been very clear for many years that they identify completely as a boy. He’s been known by a male name in your house for years and would be revolted if anyone used a female pronoun for him or referred to him as a girl.

You have been to see your GP, who has referred your son to the Tavistock clinic in London, the gender identity service for under-18s in England and Wales. But because of an unprecedented increase in the number of referrals over the past year, Tavistock has said it will be eight months before your child can be seen. He has just begun female puberty and is starting to panic about growing breasts, changing shape and getting a period. He is desperate not just to be put on hormone-blockers, which will prevent his female puberty, but also to be put on male hormones, so he can start male puberty, which the Tavistock clinic will not prescribe until he is 16 and has spent a year on hormone-blockers.

Trans people shouldn’t have to have some sort of NHS Rosetta Stone to work out what treatment they are entitled to Continue reading... The Guardian

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