Call for ALL GPs to be Trained in Transgender Healthcare

Transgender training should be enforced for all GPs to help tackle inequalities in healthcare.

That's what Tara Stone says - a transgender woman and support and development worker at Be: Trans Support and Development North.

It's after we heard transgender patients in our region could be put on a 12 year waiting list for treatment if backlogs aren't tackled.

Tara, from Newcastle, thinks this makes life more difficult with many people already battling mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

She’s calling for a shakeup of the health system - starting with a large scale training program for doctors.

Tara thinks it will give GPs more confidence to help patients, and lower the chance of being referred to a gender specialist for unrelated problems like back pain.

She said:

“A lot of GP’s perhaps get half an afternoon on LGBT issues. Normally the training that they actually receive is just personal experience narratives. So that’s people talking about their experience, which in fairness, that’s not training, that doesn’t give someone perspective or any real knowledge about an issue.”

“We need GP led care for transgender people. Ensure that our GP’s actually get trained up in gender dysphoria. Have the specialists still held in reserve to be able to deal with initial diagnosis but once that initial diagnosis is out of the way there’s not much of a need from people.”

“People have this perception of ‘right ok I can do this’ and they come out and expect there to be support services, medical services, things to actually help facilitate them basically living as themselves but they actually hit a brick wall.”

To find out more about Be: Trans Support & Development North visit their website: http://be-north.org.uk/