I've just pestered my psychiatrists secretary again to see if i'm ever going to get an appointment. Last time i spoke to her she said it would probably be the end of November now she's saying the new year. Does anyone have an idea what the timetable in the uk is on the nhs or am i better using my wages on going private? I seriously don't know how much longer i can go without me and everyone around me going insane

On the ftm network there is a nhs timetable, telling you how long it will take to get the first apointment, hormones, surgery... Google it, if you can't find it i'll pm the link to you.

From what I've heard its quicker to go private.

thank you i've found it. guess i'm not doing too bad then so i'll try to adopt that strange phenomenon known as patience

Yeah, patience is going to be your friend. So far I have only been reffered and have confirmed that I want an appointment at a GIC, need to wait 6 months now for the appointment 

Alex where abouts are you from?

My doctor said that the timetable is crap as its different for each patient and funding.

Jay

If you're likely to be going to Charing Cross (CX) GIC, here's a rough timetable of what you can expect:

Firstly, your GP has to refer you to a local psych. Depending on what area you live in, this may be a gender specialist or may not be. Waiting times for that appointment will vary, but could be around the 6 month mark - I think that's roughly what mine was.

Then, the specialist has to refer you to CX. I think waiting times are currently about 6 months or so, but first you'll get a letter with a questionnaire to complete. Once you've sent that back, you should get a letter with an appointment date on.

A date for your second appointment at CX will be given to you after your first appointment (provided the computer systems at CX aren't down!) That's likely to be another 6 months or so later - and if all goes well, that's where you'll be given the go ahead to start T. CX will then send a letter detailing the dosage etc to your GP, along with a copy for you - when you receive this you can go to your GP and they should write you a prescription and sort out your first shot.

Alternatively, if you decide to go privately, you can make an appointment with Dr Richard Curtis at the Transhealth clinic in London. Last I heard, he charges £220 for the first hour. If he's satisfied that you've been living as male for long enough at that appointment you might get T straight away. Otherwise, he'll probably ask you to return in 3 months or so for a 30 minute appointment which will cost £110.

If you do decide to go privately for T but want to use the NHS for surgery, I'd recommend that you continue on the NHS route at the same time as starting T privately - don't lose your place in the system because if you do you'll have to start back at the beginning again.

QuoteAlternatively, if you decide to go privately, you can make an appointment with Dr Richard Curtis at the Transhealth clinic in London. Last I heard, he charges £220 for the first hour. If he's satisfied that you've been living as male for long enough at that appointment you might get T straight away. Otherwise, he'll probably ask you to return in 3 months or so for a 30 minute appointment which will cost £110.

I see Dr Curtis and after getting referred (through NHS) I got to see him in 3 months had a holiday booked. He can take patients on pretty soon. Its worth checking out his website. When I was there a couple of weeks ago, whilst in the waiting room someone called for their first appointment and got them in a week and a half later. I am so glad that I have gone with Dr Curtis he is very friendly and helpful plus a FTM himself he knows what we have to go through. Also With the T. Last year when I first saw him he said that I would be able to start T at my next appointment (3 months later) You have to have a consent  for T letter in your permission for 4 weeks explaining the risks. A cover for themselves I am thinking. He has the T right there in his possession so if he is happy with how things are going for you he can give it to you then and there. However it will not be a prescription charge it is private. If you PM me I can tell you the prices   I had about 3 appointments with him before having top surgery and now I am on to one appointment every 6 months. You may need more depends on patient.

QuoteIf you do decide to go privately for T but want to use the NHS for surgery, I'd recommend that you continue on the NHS route at the same time as starting T privately - don't lose your place in the system because if you do you'll have to start back at the beginning again.

Exactly I would not give up to be honest. If your that desperate go see Dr Curtis whilst staying on the NHS list as this should soon move you up the ladder, one would like to think!

Jay

Thank you. Now I've got some idea of a timeline the panic has started to subside a bit. I'm in Lincoln near the east coast which seems to be in the middle of nowhere as far as clinics are concerned.

Ah okay. I live near Norwich and they have a centre there.. I'm not to sure about Lincoln that would fall into Cambridge right?

So are you going to stick with the NHS route?

Jay

Quote from: Flameboy on October 06, 2009, 03:32:20 PM
If you do decide to go privately for T but want to use the NHS for surgery, I'd recommend that you continue on the NHS route at the same time as starting T privately - don't lose your place in the system because if you do you'll have to start back at the beginning again.

Can you go privately for T and still get surgery on the NHS? I was told that you wouldn't be allowed.

thats what I'd heard as well. Not that i want to sound like I'm complaining but you@d have thought by now thatthey would have made the process a bit easier. I understand the reasoning behind the waiting but its really annoying

You can get on the list you will still need to see another doctor to get referred for the surgery but I would have thought this would speed up the process to be honest.

Jay

Quote from: Nathan. on October 06, 2009, 05:08:52 PM
Can you go privately for T and still get surgery on the NHS? I was told that you wouldn't be allowed.

This must be an interesting question in the case of Dr Curtis, who does both private and NHS work....
.....and who is also on the credit list for the NHS guidance document....

http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=lancashirecare.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dh.gov.uk%2Fen%2FPublicationsandstatistics%2FPublications%2FPublicationsPolicyAndGuidance%2FDH_082956%3FIdcService%3DGET_FILE%26dID%3D160105%26Rendition%3DWeb

This clearly states...

"there is no bar on mixing private and NHS treatment. However, service-users should be aware that there may be difficulties in
doing so; and there are several avenues via which service-users can complain, if their treatment is denied or unduly delayed"

Chrissty

Quote from: Chrissty on October 07, 2009, 03:46:44 PM
This must be an interesting question in the case of Dr Curtis, who does both private and NHS work....
.....and who is also on the credit list for the NHS guidance document....

http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=lancashirecare.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dh.gov.uk%2Fen%2FPublicationsandstatistics%2FPublications%2FPublicationsPolicyAndGuidance%2FDH_082956%3FIdcService%3DGET_FILE%26dID%3D160105%26Rendition%3DWeb

This clearly states...

"there is no bar on mixing private and NHS treatment. However, service-users should be aware that there may be difficulties in
doing so; and there are several avenues via which service-users can complain, if their treatment is denied or unduly delayed"

Chrissty

Wow thanks for this, it gives me hope. I might not have to wait so long for T after all.

Question: If I somehow scrape the money together to see Dr Curtis and get a T script...can I then just switch to NHS immediately? 

Like could I just take a letter or something from him to my local doctor saying that I've been given the go ahead to get it, and then have my doctor write out the script?

I'm pretty confident he would give me the go ahead to start on the first visit, I've done around a year of RLE and all my documents are changed over, most of them even agreed to do the gender marker too, think it's pretty obvious I'm serious

I'm just not sure how it works, would I have to go all the way to London for checkups every few months...or once the ball is rolling does my local GP take over?

Basically I'm trying to figure out if going private with Dr Curtis is a viable option for me to fast track the waiting lists, or if it's going to be a pointless endeavour that makes me poor and still not getting T

Quote from: Nathan. on October 07, 2009, 04:33:25 PM
Wow thanks for this, it gives me hope. I might not have to wait so long for T after all.

Quote from: Jeatyn on October 07, 2009, 08:29:43 PM
Basically I'm trying to figure out if going private with Dr Curtis is a viable option for me to fast track the waiting lists, or if it's going to be a pointless endeavour that makes me poor and still not getting T

It would be wrong of me to say that this approach to would work in every case, and I cannot claim personal experience...

...but I would have thought that if there was any chance, then using a Gender Recognition Panel member for the private consult would hold the least risk/best chance..

I think what Jay says is most likely true...In that you would probably be able to get hormones earlier, but you would not "jump the queue" on surgery...you may also have to pay privately for the scripts, depending on how your GP views any letter written by a consultant.

And don't forget that SOC still applies, so be prepared for a 3 month wait, or gather as much support for your case as possible.

My recommendation would be to get an initial gender counselling session with a specialist and talk this through. Regardless of what you might think about counselling, they will have seen hundreds of other people in a similar situation and can give excellent advise on what to expect and how to deal with the system...That should cost in the region of £60 for a 1hour consultation, but would answer a lot of your questions.

So really, although there is clearly hope, you still need to find out what it would mean in your particular case.

Finally, I will also say that I have come across people on other forums who have been on hormones for 6-12 months with their local doctor before ever getting to their first CHX Gender Clinic appointment... and I have heard of no negative responses from the team there, when it was done with the appropriate monitoring.

Chrissty

My GP was pretty reluctant to prescribe T even though I've been at an NHS gender clinic for almost a year and their doctor had written asking for me to be put on T... From the two GP surgeries I've known, neither has had any experience of transgendered patients and express that by wanting to be involved as little as possible.

Your case might be different... since here everyone's seems to be.... but I've had to persuade them with some issues, despite being an NHS patient throughout my entire transition. So you might be able to persuade them with a letter from Dr Curtis but I personally wouldn't stake the £220 appointment fee on it. Private prescription and NHS prescription are also very separate beasts.