EXCLUSIVE: Figures reveal hundreds of transgender teens wait up to 18 months for gender clinic appointment

Exclusive figures reveal more than 200 young people were referred to NHS Gender services in Scotland between 2017 and 2018.

That's a big jump from 5 years ago, when just 90 kids asked medics for support in transitioning.

But just a handful of them were actually seen with Transgender teens waiting up to 18 months for an appointment.

There is just one dedicated Gender Clinic for teenagers in Scotland – the Sandyford in Glasgow. Young people across the country will be referred here in the first instance for the support they need to transition physically.

Depending on a person’s age, that means puberty blockers to stop the development process, with cross-sex hormones later prescribed so a patient’s body becomes more closely aligned with the secondary sexual characteristics of their gender identity.

For example, for a trans man puberty blockers would stop the development of breast tissue, with cross sex hormones giving them a deeper voice and facial hair.

"If you're a young trans-woman then it can be particularly devastating if your voice breaks and drops, because that's not reversible."

For trans women blockers would stop a teen’s voice dropping, with female hormones then sparking the growth of breast tissue.

Without access to these hormones, the process of puberty continues, with transpeople developing into the gender they don’t identify with.

James Morton from the Scottish Trans Alliance says that can be hard to take:

"If you're a young trans-woman then it can be particularly devastating if your voice breaks and drops, because that's not reversible."

He’s calling for an 18-week waiting time target to be introduced - that's in line with other NHS outpatient services:

“"If you think about when you were a teenager and how long a year felt, and when you're going through puberty you're body is changing, so 18 months can make a massive difference in your development.

"If young people who are very clear about their gender are able to go on puberty blockers and then move onto the cross-sex hormones when they're older then that will save the NHS resources, and it will just make those people's lives so much easier and so much happier.

"One extra full time nurse practitioner would make a massive difference to the waiting times. It's not a huge amount of resource. The clinics are so small, there's so few people working there that just adding one extra person could really cut the waiting times in half, probably."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“We are clear that anyone who needs to use gender identity services should be able to get timely access.

“There are gender identity clinics across NHS Scotland who are caring for people who need their support and we expect NHS Boards to ensure they are resourced appropriately.”

Our request for an interview with the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman was turned down.

A recent survey by Stonewall Scotland found more than half of trans people (52%) had thought of taking their own life in the last year, while two in five (37%) have avoided seeking healthcare for fear of discrimination.