NHS Waiting list times for transitioning

[InfiniteConciousness]

Hello everyone,

I saw my GP on the 21st of July to explain my gender issues and start walking the path of transgender transition. I asked for and got an appointment with a Psychiatrist and am now awaiting the letter for this. How long are the waiting times (on average) from first appointment to the GIC's

Thanks for answering

Samantha

[amybenedict]

Hi Samantha

Good to hear you are on the road... :-)

It depends where you are, and how good your GP and local PCT are... You should get the first psych appointment within a month or two, then that has to go back to the PCT for approval for the clinical referal. Once approved, only then will you join the waiting list, which is apparently around 10 months at the moment. I went to my GP in january, had my psych in march, was told in June that I need to go to a different psych clinic as they had referred me to the wrong one in the first place.. And I havent heard anything since... :-/ So even if I get my next psych appointment in August or september, it will be almost 18 months by the time I set foot in Charing Cross clinic.... So in the meantime I have gone private...

Hopefully you will have a more straightforward time!

Best of luck

Amy.x

[Keroppi]

Nottingham is a matter of weeks (less than a month) from referral to first appointment. And they don't require referral from a psych, a GP referral is accepted. Though your GP might insist on referring you to a psych first.

[amybenedict]

I wish I was in Nottingham... :-/

[Padma]

Took a month from seeing my GP to having my psych assessment, and then another month before I got a copy of the letter confirming that the GIC has requested funding to accept my referral. I have no idea how long it will take to get funding agreed, and no idea how long the average wait after that is here (here is Devon, and the GIC is The Laurels in Exeter).

The official guideline for waiting times is no more than 18 weeks (4 months) but I've heard of these waiting guidelines being more regularly overrun in our current financially stretched health system these days.

We all have to cultivate patience .

[Pippa]

I went to my GP at the start of the year and had my psych assessment in the Spring.  It took a while for the funding to come through and I now have my first appointment in mid January.  At one point I did wonder if I was ever going to hear back but a couple of weeks later my appointment came through.

I'm on my way.  I've waited twenty odd years for this, a few more months aren't going to make a lot of difference.  With everything else that is going on in my life at the moment, I'm prepared for the long haul.

[InfiniteConciousness]

HI everyone.

Got my psych assesment done on Aug 19th, Today I picked up my notes (copy of originals) which include referral to Charing (yay). I'm going to move out to try and get self suffiecient and try to get as close to fulltime before getting to Charing.

Samantha

[Padma]

...and if you're wondering why I appear to have edited all your posts above, it's because I edited the first one just to correct the spelling of "Waiting" in the topic title (to make it easier for future visitors to search) - and then realised I'd have to do all the others individually too, sigh - your anally retentive Mod, Padma x

Meanwhile, I have my first visit to The Laurels GIC in Exeter (Devon) this Friday, only 3 months after first approaching my GP here for referral. Not bad going.

[Jayne]

I hope for your sake that you don't live in Bristol, as i've posted before on here I saw my GP in the first week of February, I had my psych appointment within a month & thought everything was proceeding well.

I then recieved a letter from the GIC saying they had requested funding on the 20th May & have been waiting ever since, i've pestered the GIC (politely) 5 or 6 times since then.
On my last phone call I spoke to the woman who chases funding, I explained that this has severely strained family relationships, i'm getting grief at work & I can no longer afford to keep my dog, I ended up in tears at this point & she explained that Bristol PCT is extremely slow at approving funding but almost always give the thumbs up.
The woman was great & assured me that she would do everything in her power to make sure I recieved funding.

If you are in the Bristol PCT area then you will have to invest in a few replacement patience glands as you'll wear them out frequently.

[pebbles]

∞
Honestly you ask my opinion if you put any dependance upon the NHS for help your a fool. they won't EVER help you. You'll sooner get Thor to give you SRS than them.

Ignoreing the goose chase I faced with a vicious unhelpful GP whitch wasted a good 2 years.
Time from seeing GP to getting funding approved. 4months.
Time from that to getting an initial consultation at the GIC 9months and still counting.

I've been waiting without help for years I have no hope of any assistance ever coming I'm literally steps away from simply slicing my testicles off myself and begin done with it.

[Jayne]

Hi Pebbles, unfortunately some of us are stuck with the NHS, I had to give up engineering because of health reason, after 8 yrs of hard work to achieve a good salary. Due to my health issues I can't work with chemicals, I can't be around paint or solvent fumes, I can't work in hot or chilled workplaces, I can't work with most animals (something I always wanted to do as a child) & I can't work around food.
(that isn't even the full list of restrictions)

I eventualy managed to find a job that would pay for me to have a forklift test & at the time it was easy to get at least ten pounds an hour driving a forklift but in todays job climate the average wage has dropped to just above 6 pounds an hour & that's barely enough to live on.

I've discovered in the past that i'm not very good at desk jobs, no matter how hard I try I couldn't organise a mess at a chimps tea party.
Due to bullying at school & my gender issues I get nervous meeting new people to the point where I break out in a sweat & sometimes get the shakes so i'm not cut out for any kind of job that involves dealing with the public. My employment options are limited & this means i'll never be able to afford to go private.

I'm working on writing a few books as i've always had an ambition to be a published author but I doubt i'll ever earn enough to be able to give up the poorly paid day job. So I can't see any way to avoid the NHS.

I'm also determined to have it done on the NHS because in spite of medical restrictions i've only amassed 2yrs unemployment since leaving school 20 yrs ago, I often didn't claim benifits & eeked out a living doing whatever agency work I could find.
Then a few weeks ago I found out that my PCT has written off 1.7 million pounds of debts ran up by health tourists, i'll be damned if i'm going to pay for non tax payers to be treated for free & then get shafted because i'm a hard woking, law abiding citizen.

Sorry for the rant but i've had a bad day at work & am venting steam in any direction I look

[shelley]

It seems the NHS isn't very quick with referals, i've had my psychiatrists apointments in June and i'm now waiting on if i have been given funding by the Lancashire PCT, then i have requested Leeds as my GIC as it's much closer than London CX. We'll see i guess, i was tempted by going private but again its all the way to London.

Hope you get a response soon xx