Trans youth ‘languishing’ while waiting six years for healthcare

Thousands of trans youth are having to wait up to six years for healthcare, a Freedom of Information request has found.

If a trans young person joined the waiting list for gender-affirming healthcare on the NHS today, they would have to wait 308 weeks for a first appointment.

More than 6,000 trans children and teenagers were ‘languishing’ on waiting lists in July.

While around 10 young people are referred a month by their GPs, only eight were seen between April and July.

The Children and Young People’s Gender Service (CYPGS) is ‘catastrophically overwhelmed’, Anne, a trans healthcare provider who analysed the FOI findings, said.

When someone reaches 17 years and nine months old, they no longer qualify for treatments administered by the CYPGS.

Instead, they must restart the referral process at the service’s adult counterpart, a gender identity clinic (GID). Waiting lists for some can be as much as 93 months.

The service has previously admitted that lengthy waiting lists can cause ‘catastrophic harm’ to patients.

The NHS has long said it is improving and expanding services to slash waiting times down over time.

CYPGS in April replaced the country’s only gender clinic for young people, Tavistock and Portman NHS trust, following a report by paediatrician Hillary Cass that led to restrictions on youth gender care.

About 250 open cases were handed over by Tavistock to be seen first by the new system, with those on the waiting list following.

But the new gender healthcare service was at 75% staffing capacity between April and July, the FOI showed. A third regional CYPGS opened last month in Bristol.

Anne co-founder Susie Green told Metro that as the medical system for trans youth creaks at the seams, the more trans youth suffer.

‘The findings revealed in this FOI are devastating but, sadly, not surprising,’ she said.

‘At Anne Health, we see the real-world impact of these waiting lists every day as young people denied gender-affirming healthcare descend into poor mental health and self-destructive behaviours.’

Among them is Mary, a parent of a trans teenager who agreed with Anne’s conclusion – trans healthcare for young people is in ‘crisis’.

‘To some, we might seem like the “lucky” ones. My daughter was already in the NHS system under the old Tavistock having been seen at Leeds,’ Mary, which is not her real name, said.

”We were first in the queue for the new “improved” revamped service as advised by the Hilary Cass review. Our main issue has not been the long waiting lists, but it is the change in practice and policies which do not offer my daughter and other trans youth, what they need in a timely manner.’

Gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth includes counselling and under ‘strict criteria’ hormone therapy, according to the NHS.

Puberty blockers – that act as a pause button for puberty – are no longer offered on the NHS to trans youth following recommendations from the Cass Report citing a lack of ‘evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness’.

Earlier this week, the Government announced blockers for those under 18 with gender dysphoria will be banned indefinitely.

Mary said this isn’t good enough. ‘Trans youth deserve better. My daughter deserves better. She has been living her authentic self since she was nine years old,’ she said.

‘With the breakdown of the NHS services, we sought alternative private support but we always hoped that the NHS would eventually come up with the goods; best practice for trans youth that is tried and tested in many other countries.

‘But no, our appointment at the new NHS service was pathologising and the service was solely focussed on mental health support.

‘Faced with a trans 15-year-old who has been happily living in their own skin, supported by us socially and medically, the service had nothing to offer. In fact, ultimately, the only offer was to be discharged from the service.’

The longer trans youth go on without gender-affirming support the more at risk they are of depression and anxiety, researchers say.

Mary knows how much simply affirming her child’s gender identity has improved her mental health and wellbeing.

‘As a parent, I will do anything to help and protect my child. This includes accessing the medical interventions that she needs to thrive,’ she said.

‘She trusts in me that I will keep her happy and safe.’

An NHS spokesperson told Metro: ‘The NHS has always been clear that the new children and young people’s gender services would first prioritise the assessment and treatment of patients being handed over from the now-closed GIDS service before seeing new patients.

‘Our new services, including the latest centre which opened in November, are now seeing patients from the waiting list, offering a transformed, holistic model of care in line with recommendations from the Cass Review.’

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