Trans people have to wait an average of 25 years for care in the UK, new report findshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/trans-people-have-to-wait-an-average-of-25-years-for-care-in-the-uk-new-report-finds/ 🔗Faefyx Collington (8 Oct 2025)
In the United Kingdom, trans people can currently expect to wait an average of 25 years for an initial appointment to start gender-affirming care with one of the nation's gender clinics, according to a new analysis of freedom of information requests conducted by Queer AF.
That wait time is almost a third of the average life expectancy for an adult in the United Kingdom, and several gender clinics have wait times that are years longer. The most extreme of those is found in Glasgow, Scotland, where the waiting list means new referrals could have to wait 224 years before getting an initial assessment.
In the U.K., to receive gender-affirming care on the national health care system, NHS, it is required to first get a referral to a gender clinic from a general practitioner before waiting for an initial assessment and to eventually receive recommended prescriptions. All stages of this process regularly include excessive invasive questions about a trans person's identity, life, and sex life that can leave them feeling like they have to "prove" that they're "trans enough."
The website for the Tavistock and Portman gender clinic in London shows that it currently has over 16,500 patients on its waitlist and is currently offering appointments to people first referred in March 2020. While they have received 300 referrals in the last month, they have only offered 73 first assessment appointments in the same time frame.
