Anyone in the UK familiar with the medical system please help

[Guest temmychan]

Um, hey all,

I'm just wondering if there was anyone here from the UK who has transitioned under the National Health Service that could help me out.

I'm 18 and just about to go away to university, and after maybe 4 years of feeling too scared to do anything about being trans* I went to my doctor's earlier this week to attempt to get a referral to a place where I could start on the road to becoming myself. I took a letter that my counsellor had written explaining my situation so I wouldn't have to say much (I suffer from awful, crippling anxiety) but the doctor said that he could only refer me to a clinic in the region where I live with my parents, and that if I wanted to get referred to a clinic in the region where my university is, I'd need to talk to a doctor down there.

I really don't know what to do though, since my university has quite short term times so I'll only be down there for maybe 7 months of the year. The waiting times for these things are apparently about a year on average so I'm really afraid that I'll get an appointment at a time when I can't go, or I'm in the wrong place because I'm at home for the holidays or whatever. Can anyone with experience of this system give me any information on how it all works?

Thanks

M

[tracy_j]

Strictly speaking - as far as I am aware a doctor could refer you to a clinic anywhere in the country if health reasoning dictated this was the best course but he may have to arrange / justify this with his manager and arrange budgeting (especially if it were not NHS).

I don't know a lot about the GP service but I know that students at university are covered for immediate treatment by a local doctor. Don't forget that if you are at university for 7 months of the year that is over half so it may be reasonable to change GP anyway. Surgeries are looking for custom as it is patient numbers which govern budgets etc so you are in a good position.

I would suggest you make enquires at the university when you arrive (or even before) about access to doctors and request an early consultation to discuss. Also to some extent you can request treatment suiting your area requirements but budgeting out of area is a little more complex for surgeries to handle so they would not like but is not impossible. Any treatment plan is (as far as in my experience) transferrable between locations in the UK so any deviation from this should be flagged up strongly. Particularly at the moment, the NHS is sensitive to adverse public opinion so discontinuation of treatment is unlikely without strong medical reasoning.

As I have said - I have no immediate experience but I hope it helps

Tracy x

[Guest lostflower]

I'm being treated on the NHS but the Scottish system is different there are only a few clinics up here and the wait time for appointments is about three months although the one I go too has a drop in clinic once a month too see if any near you has one of those

Hannah

[Guest JennyChloe]

Hi Temmy,

From my experience, don't expect anything to happen quickly - I've posted my experiences elsewhere, but to summise, I first saw my GP about a year ago, and I'm going for my first appointment at Charing Cross in a few weeks. I got to see the local pshycs very quickly, then the waiting started - waiting lists for appointments, local health board arranging funding etc etc. All the stuff they never tell you about, and never let you know what's going on so you just feel like you've been forgotten! At least once I was officially "on the books" at charing cross they kept me updated and gave me a rough idea of how long i'd be waiting.

The pshycs have to be seen first for initial assessment, and they will be in the same area as the GP you see. Then for Gender Identity Clinic ... it seems to me to just be a case of pot luck - some areas refer to certain places and that's it - expect to have to travel and if you get lucky you may not have to... as an indication, I've been refered to Charing Cross, and live in North Wales, so that's about a 500 mile round trip then! - I don't yet know if there's the possibility of changing to a nearer clinic once you've been referred somewhere

[Guest sharonmoore]

I got refered to the Leeds gender clinic a couple of months ago but got told they had allocated their budget for this financial year and placed on a national waiting list.

[Guest Kayleigh666]

I live near Birmingham. And i got refered to the Charing cross clinic in London. And although its nearly a 300 mile trip i do it because i need to transition if i didn't i wouldn't be who i am today.

I found out after a couple years i could have moved to the nottingham clinic but because I've been with Charing cross for the length of time i have i have stuck with them.

So although you might get refered to a clinic miles away you can ask to be moved to a closer clinic if it helps. But in your case i.d go to the one you spend the longest nearer to than the other.

Hope that helps x

Kayleigh x