NHS wait times are hurting trans people’s mental health, survey finds
Extensive healthcare wait times in the UK are damaging trans people’s mental health, a groundbreaking survey has found. Content warning: This story includes topics that could make some readers uncomfortable.
More than 1,000 trans people were asked about their experiences of transition healthcare by advocacy group TransActual. Only 4.5% of those surveyed said that their mental health had not been negatively impacted by waiting for hormone replacement therapy, and 83.8% said it had been negatively impacted by waiting for surgery.
This included frequent anecdotes about self harm and suicidal ideation related to dysphoria, misgendering and hate crimes, all of which are worsened by a lack of timely access to transition care.
The survey also revealed that the majority of respondents (85.2%) referred to NHS gender services after 2017 had yet to be seen by the service.
