I got a letter the other day saying my second appointment at the gender clinic has been postponed for two months.  Yet another delay in getting the treatment I am after    I also have got a letter saying my local health authority won't fund voice therapy   The gender clinic says there is voice therapy provided by them in London but as I am 200 miles away, I might be better off going private.  As I am currently an unemployed part time student I do not have the cash. 

I see speech therapy as a crucial part of my being able to lead a normal life after transition.  Other health authorities provide this treatment.  It seems my care is being affected by the NHS postcode lottery.  I am distinctly unchuffed!

  Sorry to hear that you were put off on your appt.  I agree that speech therapy is important.  I don't know what you will have to pay for it, but I was told that it is $200 an hour for tharpy.  I am hoping my primary Doc will approve  it for me to get it covered under my insurance.  I did have a speech problem growing up that I am hoping will be justification for the ins covering me for it.

Yeh you'd really expect nhs levels of care to be consistant but they are not. Im going to look at the private route myself.

Quote from: Pippa on June 17, 2012, 06:51:13 AM
I got a letter the other day saying my second appointment at the gender clinic has been postponed for two months.  Yet another delay in getting the treatment I am after    I also have got a letter saying my local health authority won't fund voice therapy   The gender clinic says there is voice therapy provided by them in London but as I am 200 miles away, I might be better off going private.  As I am currently an unemployed part time student I do not have the cash. 

I see speech therapy as a crucial part of my being able to lead a normal life after transition.  Other health authorities provide this treatment.  It seems my care is being affected by the NHS postcode lottery.  I am distinctly unchuffed!

It is a postcode lottery regarding NHS treatment on all levels. Also the London GIC are well known for changing appointments at short notice and putting them back for months. I've heard people have gone for their appointments only to find they were cancelled a few days before their appointment date and they hadn't yet received their letter. They have then been turned away!

Quote from: Siobhan on June 17, 2012, 08:26:24 AM
Yeh you'd really expect nhs levels of care to be consistant but they are not. Im going to look at the private route myself.

I whole heartily regret going through the NHS GIC route and lost about 10 years because of it. I wouldn't recommend that route to anyone. I now run my own ship, have my own NHS endo and I'm free from any GIC ties! there are ways of staying with the NHS but still avoiding the GIC's!

Do tell. I'd like to go that route myself

Quote from: Felicitá on June 17, 2012, 02:53:26 PM
Back in 1994, I got a letter from Russel Reid, my gender psychiatrist then. That's all I needed to get a lifetime supply of NHS HRT, NHS voice therapy. I even had criccothyroid approximation surgery scheduled on the NHS but cancelled as my voice became passable without it. I've never seen a GIC.

When I was at  the NHS GIC I was refused HRT after about 18 months of attending the clinic. So I went private and saw Russell and started on HRT the same afternoon!  Felicitá you are lucky you didn't have to suffer the roth of the GIC!

Quote from: Siobhan on June 17, 2012, 02:40:00 PM
Do tell. I'd like to go that route myself

Do you mean the route I took after ditching the GIC?

Yeh pretty much. The extreme waiting times and the fact im no where near it have put me off so far, so im being naughty and self medding. I did read an nhs leaflet that said this was dangerous, and the leaflet also states self medders should go to there doc or gic tell them, and get a proper nhs script.
So I might get a doc and do that.

the gender clinic here has been closed down for 6 months or possibly more its so crap

Sorry to compound bad news.

When I was talking to my therapist some years back he asked why I had come to Australia. I replied that one of the reasons was that the NHS were appalling for treating TG people. He said that it was well recognised among professionals that the UK  NHS was among the worse service providers for gender dysmorphia in the world.

The response seems to be very patchy. I know some UK girls have had a good and quick service but it seems to be based more on who you know rather than a proper therapy system.

Here it seems to be quite streamlined. You do your interviews, you see the endo, you get the hormones, you keep up with the interviews, after 12 months you get the letter and get re-assessed and then have surgery. But each decision is yours as well, you can do things at your own speed and own desire.

Cindy