I need to rant, sorry folks

It's taken almost 3yrs to get HRT on the NHS, it's been a battle all the way but due to the new guidelines i've finally broken through the red tape & have been on E for 6 months now.

Now that i'm on E i'm having to fight a new battle for electrolysis, I put in a request last year due to the fact that I have severe eczema & CANNOT wear make up to hide my very prominent 5 O'clock shadow, the response was that my case wasn't exceptional enough!!!
I put an appeal in (with photo evidence of my skin) & they refused to consider it as the guidelines changed 2 days before my appeal went in.

Once the guidelines changed my GP put in a new request last September as the guidelines state that if you are transitioning you are entitled to 8 sessions of electrolysis, I have chased this up as i've heard nothing for 7 months.
Today my GP had a response from the funding team, they have told her that I cannot get electrolysis until i'm on HRT (which I am) & have had GRS, the NHS guidelines about GRS state that I must present as female for 1 year before I am eligible for GRS, this is sheer madness!!
How the hell am I supposed to present as female when I cannot wear make up? some days my skin is so bad I can't even shave!!

To sum up I cannot have facial hair removed until I have GRS but cannot present as female to get GRS until I have facial hair removed.
I hate transitioning on the NHS, if there was any way for me to go private then I would in a heartbeat.

End of rant

Edit: For those who are new to this forum or transitioning in the UK i'll translate a few things as when I started on this forum years ago I had no idea what all of these letters meant.

GIC = Gender Identity Clinic
HRT = Hormone Replacement Therapy
NHS = Bunch of heartless penny pinchers
RLE = Real Life Experience
GRS = Gender Reassignment Surgery

Does anyone on here have a link to the new NHS guidelines?
I need to go through this document with a fine toothed comb, if they keep messing me around like this then i'll consider legal action to force them to let me have what I should be entitled to, fuming doesn't even come close to describing the mood i'm in right now

I don't have a link to the guidelines, but I do have a huge amount of sympathy for what you're being put through.  I'm sorry, that doesn't really help much, but I would be so angry, too if I was in your situation

The NHS is something we can be so proud of, but it can be really rubbish at times too.

At the beginnings of my transition, I was made aware of Julia Grant. I watched her documentaries about her NHS struggles. Never was anything more depressing. I get my HRT and blood tests on the NHS. And I draw the line there. Everything else I managed privately. Yes, it can be a nightmare.

Quote from: Joan on March 26, 2014, 05:49:34 AM


The NHS is something we can be so proud of, but it can be really rubbish at times too.

I've recently been treated by my local dermatology department & put on immno suppressants for my skin, getting refered to dermatology was a nightmare but once i'd seen them they put me on an emergency list for the next available hospital bed, I can't rate them highly enough.
My local GP surgery is outstanding, I wouldn't dream of saying a bad thing about them, they really have pulled out all of the stops to help me with my Gender reasignment & my skin problems.

Where the NHS falls down & fails patients is always due to the pen pushers & their stupid rules/regulations & pettiness.

Bureaucracy, the bane of everybody's existence (except, possibly, for the wealthy).

I can't imagine how terrible it must have been for you.. and here I was, thinking I'm not the luckiest one out there when it comes to HRT and stuff I consider myself highly blessed and lucky now, for being allowed HRT as an emigrant, without NHS' throughought diagnosis.

I must admit i got laser hair removal on the nhs, to get funding the circumstances have to be exception in relation to possible heath risks of not getting it, basically unless you have a life times worth of interactions with mental heath services you don't have much of a chance, the only way of getting it is by showing that not geting it is a genuine suicide risk. 

I think this is it? http://www.cliniq.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/nhsenglandinterimgenderprotocolcpag12072013.pdf

I've been reading it through myself, I am honestly dreading the thought of having to ask the NHS for anything, especially seeing the horror stories of plain neglect/forced RLE humiliation.

Do they actually follow these new guidelines? They say they're now not supposed to require RLE before HRT, but knowing the NHS they'll be quick to throw anything out they don't like the sound of.

They can prescribe hrt very quickly if they think the patient is suitable, i think people often forget this, its if THEY think you are suitable, so do what they say.

Quote from: Izla on March 26, 2014, 03:39:33 PM
I've been reading it through myself, I am honestly dreading the thought of having to ask the NHS for anything, especially seeing the horror stories of plain neglect/forced RLE humiliation.

Do they actually follow these new guidelines? They say they're now not supposed to require RLE before HRT, but knowing the NHS they'll be quick to throw anything out they don't like the sound of.

Thanks for the link.
Regarding forced RLE, under the old rules I was denied HRT due to not being able to wear make-up & since I got made redundant I don't have the option of going private for electrolysis, at my first GIC appointment after the new rules came in I was given HRT so you don't have to worry about that, the GIC's follow the new rules.

The problem in this case isn't the GIC's but the petty bereaucrates who have decided that the new rules say you have to have RLE & GRS to be eligible for electro funding even though the rules clearly state that social transitioning is NOT a requirement for electrolysis.
It feels like they've made this up in the hope that i'll give up & save them a few pennies, ain't gonna happen, i'll fight them all the way!!

Quote from: Jayne on March 26, 2014, 04:10:37 PM
Thanks for the link.
Regarding forced RLE, under the old rules I was denied HRT due to not being able to wear make-up & since I got made redundant I don't have the option of going private for electrolysis, at my first GIC appointment after the new rules came in I was given HRT so you don't have to worry about that, the GIC's follow the new rules.

The problem in this case isn't the GIC's but the petty bereaucrates who have decided that the new rules say you have to have RLE & GRS to be eligible for electro funding even though the rules clearly state that social transitioning is NOT a requirement for electrolysis.
It feels like they've made this up in the hope that i'll give up & save them a few pennies, ain't gonna happen, i'll fight them all the way!!

It's great when the rules are in writing

Quote from: Jayne on March 26, 2014, 05:39:21 AM
Does anyone on here have a link to the new NHS guidelines?
I need to go through this document with a fine toothed comb, if they keep messing me around like this then i'll consider legal action to force them to let me have what I should be entitled to, fuming doesn't even come close to describing the mood i'm in right now

Is this what you're looking for?  http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/files/pdfversion/CR181.pdf

I've managed to get an endo appointment next month by pointing out the section about stopping people self medding by getting them on a monitored regime ASAP (in this this ASAP means months of me printing this, highlighting relevant bits and going down and moaning at my GP...)

Quote from: Izla on March 26, 2014, 03:39:33 PM
Do they actually follow these new guidelines? They say they're now not supposed to require RLE before HRT, but knowing the NHS they'll be quick to throw anything out they don't like the sound of.

When I provided my GP with a copy of this document she took it away to discuss the rest of the practice, their verdict was that these are guidelines not firm rules and refused to help provide any assistance beyond the referral to Leeds GIC.  It's taken a very sympathetic doctor to agree to refer me straight to an endo (come on April 17th!!!) while waiting for the GIC appointment (should be about 18 months after initially asking for help...NHS sucks)

The NHS is a bureaucratic organisation and the bureaucrats have little time for mere mortals, but if you get your facts organised then they tend to back off rather quickly.

The facial hair removal (in England, but very similar to Scotland) is in this document (see appendix 4)

http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/int-gend-proto.pdf

That has been updated slightly, but is essentially unchanged. It makes no mention about hormones, make-up or RLE other than MTF people should be given hair removal to assist with their RLE. The statement that will be of particular interest is "It is recommended that facial hair removal should commence prior to social gender roletransition, as the beard must grow to visible lengths to be removed."

These are indeed guidelines for treatment but it would be a very foolish doctor that ignores them. If they do ignore them then ask the Practice Manager to forward the guidelines to their Medical Defence Union and ask if they would defend the Practice for refusal to treat. Asking questions like that often produces results if you ask politely (do not threaten or shout).

Transitioning on the NHS is actually quite straightforward as long as you are prepared to document everything, follow up on appointments, research what medications you are entitled to and so on. Knowledgeable patients are rarely bothered by awkward medical staff. Anyone who expects the NHS to ride in, sweep them off their feet and carry them from the start to the finish is in for a big shock. Most medical staff have never seen a trans-person and are utterly clueless.

My technique is to never leave the building without my next appointment printed out and handed to me and filed in my transition folder in front of the appointments clerk. I never go to a meeting without my transition folder and I can look up any details at any time and give them the answer without going away to find it. They soon get the idea that you know what you are entitled to. Ask staff for direct email addresses and bypass the admin bureaucrats as much as possible. I have emails for all my clinicians in the GIC and my GP staff know I know my stuff and I get no trouble.

My transition is far, far, far too important to leave up to admin people and suchlike to whom I am just another patient in an area of practice about which they may know little. I run my transition and let them know, politely, what I want done and I usually get it. I encourage everyone I meet in transition to do the same - be your own "Transition Manager" and use the NHS as a resource pool.

How long has each of you waited for an appointment at GIC from the moment of speaking about your *issues* at your local GP? A little timeline of everyone of you would be helpful!

Quote from: crowcrow223 on April 27, 2014, 12:49:02 PM
How long has each of you waited for an appointment at GIC from the moment of speaking about your *issues* at your local GP? A little timeline of everyone of you would be helpful!

It'll be 19 months by the time I see the GIC in November

I was referred to Charing Cross hospital in October 1989.I got my first appointment in May 1991

As someone who's only option for the foreseeable future will be to try and transition on the NHS, these stories are all very worrying. And these waiting times just to be seen at a GIC really are ridiculous

Is being referred to a GIC really the only way to transition on the NHS, is there no alternative route? Could a therapist or psychiatrist not attached to a GIC give a recommendation or referral for hormones? (Pardon me if any of this is particularly ignorant.)

I asked for a referral from my gp to a gic on October 1st.  I spoke to a mental health worker at the end of January. 

I have my first psychiatrist appointment on Wednesday.

An okay from him and my gp will refer me to the GIC.

Thankfully I knew the NHS would be ->-bleeped-<- and I am self medding.  Best decision I ever made. If I wasn't on hrt now I'd be crawling the walls.