51 children among more than 600 people on NI gender identity service waiting list

UTV can reveal that over 600 adults and 51 children are on the waiting list for the Gender Identity Service in Northern Ireland.

28 new patients were seen at Northern Ireland's only hub at Knockbracken in 2022.

12 people were seen in the first quarter of this year at the service, which is run by the Belfast Trust.

51 children are currently on the waiting list for the service for minors, called 'Knowing Our Identity'.

Chris McIlwaine is a trans man in his 20s.

Chris has been self-medicating with hormones since 2019 at a cost of £60-£70 per week, and has funded a private breast-removal surgery.

Although he has been seen by the local services, as an employee at Transgender NI, he says he knows many of the people who are on the waiting list.

"It's incredibly disappointing, disheartening, you know, not just for me - I know for a fact that it'll be disheartening for the rest of the community. And I have to admit it is not surprising," he said.

"Even when people are being seen, what we're hearing from folks is that it's not suitable care for them. They're not accessing the necessary health care that they need."

I asked Chris what he meant by that.

"When it comes to the Brackenburn service itself (at Knockbracken), we know that for people when they first access it, that the assessments they have to go through can be incredibly difficult and hard for trans people to deal with.

"There's the first initial assessment, and from what we are aware, depending very much on the individual, this can take from six months to 18 months and that is just talking therapy, or that is just trying to relay over and over again that 'I am trans enough' for this health care."

He said that often, people are "terrified" to go into appointments.

"Sometimes because they know for a fact they need to set a certain box that the gender clinic needs them to fit, and especially for those of us who are gender non-conforming when it comes to our expression.

"We have trans men who will dress a little bit more feminine in their day to day life. But when it comes to an appointment, they will make sure that they are wearing a suit or something like that that they don't usually wear just so they can be seen as you know, trans enough so that they can get the health care."

He says not everyone who is experiencing issues with their gender identity is experiencing mental illness.

"The counsellor I was speaking to was lovely, but I was there to access healthcare. I wasn't there for anxiety or depression or any other mental health issues.

"I ended up being anxious and depressed because I was waiting so long for health care to just be seen."

Responding to comments from others that money would be better spent on other health services, Chris said that this type of care is "life-saving".

"This is lifesaving care for people for for the trans community in itself, you know, when not even just with hormone treatment or with surgeries.

"A lot of this is also about getting support around social transition. And we know that medical care in itself is a stepping stone for the trans community to be able to be seen and heard by the general society," Chris replied.

He continued: "We know that it is a general every human being is entitled to be seen and heard as who they are. And this health care helps. It is a stepping stone for people."

Trans issues have made headlines across the UK recently.

In Belfast this month, two separate rallies took place - organisers of one said it was in support of trans rights, while the other was said to be a women's rights protest.

Marianne Stewart, a volunteer at the Women's Rights Network, attended the latter, and spoke to UTV about the latest stats.

"My concern for the young ones, children and young adults, would be that they're not actually given informed consent for any affirmation surgery that they go through. "Puberty blockers are, despite what everybody says, are not reversible.

"It's it's hard because I've listened to de-transitioners who have so much regrets about what they've done to their bodies.

"They feel euphoria when they start taking the cross-sex hormones, and then there's more euphoria when they have the surgery and then the crash hits when they realise that actually everything that was going on in their head is still going on in their heads, despite all this work that they have done to their bodies.

Marianne says it worries her that there are 51 children on the waiting list for the Knowing our Identity services,

"I worry that they're being pushed into it by society. It's never a neutral act by even by socially transitioned kids we need to talk to them and ask them why they feel like that," she said.

Alexa Moore is a 23-year-old trans woman.

She has been on the gender identity services waiting list since 2018 and believes that she is number 50 on the list of over 600 people and is self medicating with hormones.

"People keep not getting seen. It's disappointing and demoralising, frankly.

"Especially because I know that people, including myself, have been working to try and address this issue for so many years.

"People are left with no choice but to access health care on their own or to you know, we've seen countless people crowdfunding for access to health care.

"Whenever I went on the list, I knew for a fact, I'm going to be waiting years for this. I didn't know how many years, but I knew I was going to be waiting years.

"And so, you know, a few months later, I essentially started self-medicating and accessing transition myself, which, you know, frankly, it has been great.

"Like, I am glad that I've been able to progress with my life and, and, and and feeling comfortable in myself despite the blockages that are in the way because of everything, frankly.

"I understand why people have these frustrations and think, oh, you know, trans people are getting all of this media attention and the political attention and and all, and they're asking for all this money. You know, what makes them special.

"And the reality is that, you know, we're not the ones that you should be angry are we are not the ones who have created this political and economic mess that we're currently and we're not the ones who have wrecked the health care service and we're not the ones preventing it from being fixed."

The Department of Health says that future changes to services will be informed by a public consultation, and that it is hoped the services will be "sustainable, fit for purpose and offer timely care.

"The review report has been submitted to the Department of Health, as well as an implementation plan setting out in more detail what would be needed to address the current and future demands on the service," a statement said.

"The service model will need to be sustainable, fit for purpose and offer timely care and support for those who are referred for assessment and treatment. The Department is considering the draft review report and implementation plan.

"Implementation of the plan will need to be considered against other Health and Social Care priorities and against a very challenging financial position. A final decision on the future service will be informed by a public consultation."

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