The events detailed in this blog post happened over a month ago, it took me this long to write about them because they were extremely traumatic. Ultimately I decided that I should write about what happened to me in the hope that it might illustrate just how bad trans healthcare is in the UK as well as give me some way to move on from what happened.
Several months ago I tried to make an appointment to get referred to a GIC. My GP totally ignored my request and instead decided to refer me to a completely irrelevant mental health service (that I never attended because I didn't need it). This greatly affected my confidence and I didn't have it in me to try and get a GIC referal until at least half a year later, probably longer.
When I tried to get a GIC referral for the second time I had an in person appointment to discuss both the referral and getting a shared care agreement between my GP and GenderGP. I felt that I had to present as femininely as possible because otherwise I'd be refused care, nobody should ever feel that way.
Once I got to the appointment my GP tried making small talk before swiftly getting onto why I was there. They asked what I wanted, I told them. They then proceeded to ask a bunch of questions about the clinic I was receiving care from, I answered all their questions. Then things got fucked; my GP started talking about "the high transition regret rates" and "why it's so hard to talk about them" (basically a bunch of transphobic dog whistles). At this point I was absolutely horrified but didn't say anything in the vain hope that my GP might still help me (spoiler, he did not.)
He then proceeded to ask about what medication I was taking and tried to gaslight me into believing that the hormones couldn't possibly be helping me, the intention obviously being to try and get me to stop taking them.
The appointment ended with him telling me that my GP practice as a rule doesn't do shared care and that he wouldn't do a referral for me then and there, instead he said he'd pass it over to a colleague who does referrals, which begs the question of why I was in a room with him in the first place.
Fast forward to the present day and they still haven't done my referral. Somebody at the pracitice reception claimed that it had been done when I called them to check but I was then later asked for some documents from GenderGP before the referral could be carried out, so needless to say I have very little hope that they will ever actually do it...
The only good news that I can report in this article is that I recently got a gender dysphoria diagnosis directly from one of the trans healthcare pilot schemes here in the UK. In theory if I take that diagnosis to my GP they might refer me to an endocrinologist, but I don't have too much hope unfortunately.
If you have any trans people in your life fighting this system please look after them. This shit is hard and mentally taxing.
