The Unacknowledged Threat of Trans Healthcare Waiting Lists

By Dylan Mann-Hazell, Junior Content Writer at myGwork

As anybody who lives in the UK knows, getting an appointment with your GP under the National Health Service is an increasingly difficult feat. A combination of insufficient funding, an ever-growing population and criminally underpaid nurses and healthcare staff makes any long-term treatment difficult to arrange. As such, the needs of some patients are prioritized over others. Unfortunately, this means that forms of healthcare not related to urgent injury or physical illness are consistently pushed further down the line.

Perhaps the most renowned of this category is the extensive waiting times for therapy, for those struggling with their mental health. However, one of the more widely unacknowledged threats these waiting lists pose is faced by an entire community. The mass media won’t use their platforms to raise awareness of this issue – quite the opposite, they frequently do their best to demean and disregard this community with alarmist scaremongering. This is, of course, the silent impact of healthcare waiting lists on the transgender community.

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Within the current media climate, the transgender community are consistently faced with libelous language, threats and abuse on social networking sites on a day-to-day basis. With high profile figures, both political and celebrity, spreading misinformation and dangerous falsehoods, the United Kingdom is becoming an increasingly hostile environment for trans people. In particular, the damage brought about by other members of the queer community who are perpetuating negative stereotypes is increasingly concerning.

Naturally, those experiencing gender dysphoria want to feel as safe, happy and secure as possible– and for many of them, this means undergoing gender affirmation surgery. As it currently stands, thousands of trans people are being forced to wait a considerable number of years to even be considered for the surgery process. With an increasing number of people openly identifying as transgender each year, it’s more integral than ever to ensure that the healthcare system efficiently reflects a developing society.

The mix of gender dysphoria and slow waiting times for treatment is also a major cause of the abhorrent mental health statistics within the transgender community. According to data collected by