The Medical Director for Specialised Services updates on the keen interest in proposals for the future and why it’s important for people to voice their views and ideas:

We are now in our eleventh week of public consultation on proposals for new service specifications for adult gender identity services.

Our consultation activities over the summer have included our presence at the Sparkle weekend in Manchester and Trans Pride in Brighton, and I want to thank everyone who took part in the recent webinars and the public event in London last week.

We look forward to further public events in Cardiff on 28 September 2017 and Leeds on 2 October 2017. Details of how to register for these events can be found here.

In response to significant interest we have extended the closing date for consultation to 16 October 2017.

The proposed service specifications, the consultation guide and the online response form can be found here.

We are encouraging trans people and anyone else who has an interest in these issues to take part, whether you reside in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. NHS Scotland is holding a separate consultation for people who live in Scotland, which also runs until 16 October 2017 and details of which can be found here.

Please spread the word about the consultations and the engagement opportunities via your social media platforms and other communication channels.

I’ve already heard some passionate and thoughtful points made at the events and I’m in no doubt at the unacceptable challenges that many trans people face in accessing specialist and general health services.

It’s important that you – as individuals, groups or organisations – take the opportunity to have your say. The eventual service specifications that this consultation is feeding into will help shape the way in which specialised gender identity services are delivered and commissioned in the future.

The specifications will also be used for the purpose of a procurement exercise that will determine which organisations and professional staff are best placed to deliver these services in the future.

I will write again once consultation has concluded with details of how we are taking this work forward.

In the meantime, if you would like to stay informed about NHS England’s work on gender identity service, you can register as a stakeholder of the Gender Identity Clinical Reference Group. Or, if you have any questions or comments about the gender identity consultation, please get in touch england.scengagement@nhs.net

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