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Petition Number: P-06-1229 Petition title: Increase funding for Gender Identity Clinics in Wales. Text of petition: Currently, there is only 1 Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) in Wales. The waiting time for this GIC is between 24-30 months for a first appointment, nevermind the rest of the treatment. Trans people in Wales are struggling already and having a single GIC in Wales with an absurdly high waiting time is extremely damaging, especially to young trans people. We need increased funding. |
A petition to ‘increase funding for Gender Identity Clinics in Wales’ has been submitted to the Petitions Committee.
Currently there is one Gender Identity Clinic based in Wales and waiting times for someone to be offered an appointment is 24-30 months.
The Welsh Gender Service was created in 2019 and inludes a multidisciplinary administrative and clinical Welsh Gender Team, Local Gender Teams (LGT) and a Directed Enhanced Service to improve support in primary care.
The Welsh Gender Team (WGT) is based at St David’s Hospital in Cardiff. Local Gender Teams (LGT) are based in each health board and are made up of a doctor who prescribes hormone therapies, and a speech and language therapist.
There is ‘no official data on the number of people in Wales who present with a degree of gender variance’ and there is considerable variation in estimates therefore it is difficult to assess prevalence or the amount of people who require this service. It is recognised that there has been a ‘significant rise in the number of people pursuing treatment options and the increased incidence of expressed need’. The Cardiff Clinic received the 646 referrals in 2020-21, which was an increase of 26 per cent from 2019-20.
Prior to the creation of the Welsh Gender Service patients within Wales with gender dysphoria had been referred to the London Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) for assessment and treatment. In response to increasing demand for gender identity services in Wales, in 2016 the Welsh Government provided funding to the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee (WHSSC) to support the development of a gender variance pathway. The service has been developed in collaboration with the all Wales Gender Identity Partnership Group (AWGIPG) which includes representatives from the transgender community and service users.
Umbrella Cymru has been contracted to work in partnership with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CVUHB) to provide support as part of the Welsh Gender Service (WGS). The Gender Information and Support Team from Umbrella Cymru provide support to anyone on the waiting list who wishes to access it and provides support such as information about the pathway links to groups, help with name changes and building confidence.
Responding to the petition, the Deputy Minister for Social Services confirmed that the WHSSC is ‘working closely with CVUHB to expand the Welsh Gender Service’. The response noted that ‘additional funding has been provided to increase capacity, reduce waiting times and increase expertise over 3 years’ and ‘focuses on the development of a satellite clinic in north Wales’.
Acknowledging that more work is required, the Deputy Minister stated that the waiting list had been reduced by 6 months and the Welsh Gender Service had:
… Successfully recruited professionals with additional expertise, for instance, to undertake surgical assessments which would have previously required a referral to the London based Gender Identity Clinic hosted by The Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust.
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