Hey folks 🩷

Just doing a quick update to let you all know that we're still here, and we're still recovering from (and coping with) depression, anxiety, neurodivergent burnout, and migraines.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but we're doing a little better and keeping ourselves occupied, whilst also allowing ourselves time to rest... though sometimes Hannah has to remind us to pause or stop when we get hyperfocussed 😅

On another note, we've got our 4th appointment with the NHS East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) tomorrow, which we're totally not entirely anxious about 😅🥺

This one is to get a 2nd surgical recommendation from another NHS medical "specialist". We need 2 before we can even join any surgical waiting list, and we already got the 1st from our 3rd appointment... back in March 2024.

Technically we should have had that all sorted back during our 2nd appointment in August 2023, when they agreed that we did indeed meet the diagnostic criteria for gender incongruence (ICD-11, HA60), but NHS gender identity clinics (GICs) are a crumbling anachronism, designed intentionally to make the process drawn-out, difficult, and full of gatekeeping 😔

Of course, they couldn't just accept the gender incongruence diagnosis we got privately in July 2021... from someone literally recognised by the UK government as a gender specialist for the purposes of applying for a gender recognition certificate, and who still works for the NHS 😑😮‍💨🤦‍♀️

Plus the EOEGS then took nearly 6 months to send the final report and letter to my NHS GP before booking this 4th appointment and getting started on other requests.

On top of that, they made several factual errors in the report too 🤦‍♀️ We sent it back to them and our GP, with highlighted corrections. Our GP was most grateful for this, as it highlighted that the responsibility of Individual Funding Requests (IFRs) lies with the gender clinic, not the patient's GP.

So, yeah. We're a bit anxious right now 😅😖

#EOEGS #EastOfEnglandGenderService #NHS #NHSEngland #TransHealthcare #trans #transgender #UK #queer #LGBTQIA+ #DesegregateTransHealthcare #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransLiberationNow #MentalHealth #depression #anxiety #neurodivergent #NeurodivergentBurnout

If you didn't catch the original thread about finally making some actual process through the EOEGS, please go read that first.

We're tired, and still burnt out (especially from writing that deed poll post), so here's the summary:

• NHS GP practice manager and senior partner got the letter.
• Both also were grateful for our corrections to the errors the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) made.
• They immediately put 16 Evorel 100 mcg estradiol patches (every 4 weeks) and Decapeptyl (triptorelin) 11.25 mg (every 12 weeks) on repeat prescription for us.
• All approved with my existing electrologist. We know get 16 hours for free 😊
  • To put this in context, the current price for existing clients is £75 an hour. 16 hours of electrolysis is £1,200 GBP.

Of course we are definitely going to be using the HRT meds we're being prescribed: we wouldn't dream of continuing with DIY HRT and saving them up to give away to people who can't get access to either 😌

And whenever the NHS asks for a blood test, our estradiol level will show perfectly between 400 and 600 pmol/L, so that the dosage isn't reduced.

#trans #transgender #healthcare #TransHealthcare #GenderAffirmingHealthcare #NHS #NHSEngland #IFR #ICB #EOEGS #EastOfEnglandGenderService #TransRights #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransLiberation #TransLiberationNow #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #LGBTQIA2S+ #DesegregateTransHealthcare

Hey folks  

What with our AuDHD burnout, real-life stuff, and other recent fedi dramas, we had had neither the time nor spoons to give you all an update.

To bring you all up-to-date, this has been our experience with the NHS:

• Late May 2021 - referred to the London GIC (aka Tavistock).
• Asked to be put on TransPlus pilot scheme waiting list, in case we became eligible.
• January 2022 - discovered the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) pilot scheme and was transferred.
• November 2022 - 1st appointment with EOEGS. No care or support offered.
• Early in 2023, TransPlus rang to offer us an appointment 🤦‍♀️ We were not allowed to accept or transfer to them, because of NHS rules 😞
• August 2023 - 2nd appointment with EOEGS. Gender incongruence diagnosis agreed, but was told we'd need a further appointment to discuss HRT and other requests.
• March 2024 - finally got all requests in (HRT, surgerical, voice training, hair removal etc.)

Now, you think it wouldn't take long to send a letter from the EOEGS to my GP, right? Right? 😅😞

That 3rd appointment was on 12th March 2024. The letter wasn't printed untiil 28th August 2024: almost 6 months later 😑

On the plus side, my GP has now been sent this, can process it, and can start officially giving us prescriptions for meds... as soon as we sign a stupid declaration to receive meds that "are not licenced for the treatment of Gender Incongruence" 🤦‍♀️

They've also put down the wrong date on which we had our 1st appointment on the letter, so gonna need to update all parties of that. How do we know?

On a good note though, approval was granted also immediately for limited hair removal and we can continue to use our existing electrologist 🥰 It's the only part of the process that has been quick and easy 😅😑

It's a bit of a postcode lottery with the NHS, but the details we got said they'd fund 8 hours of laser OR 16 hours of electrolysis OR some combination of those.

We replied quickly to ask for 16 hours of electrolysis with our existing electrologist.

And yes: it will all be on our face and neck. Totally no other areas whatsoever, as the NHS doesn't cover that (with the exception of hair removal down below for any surgeries).

And it will totally take all 16 hours to finally finish off my face and neck.

Anyway, just thought you might like to know that it's only taken me about 1,188 days to get to this point (at the time of writing this post).

That's about 39 months: roughly 3 years 3 months.

And this is considered very quick by NHS standards (at least NHS England) 🙄

We still need a further review before we can even join the vaginoplasty waiting list (for Tina Rashid), let alone to get to the consultation stage  

And we're presently still waiting on the EOEGS to accept the ruling from the official NHS Individual Funding Request (IFR) team that it is the responsibility of the gender clinic (whilst under their care) to fill these out for any requested surgeries not offered as standard by the NHS.

e.g.,

• Bilateral orchidectomy (sometimes called a bofaectomy)
• Facial Feminisation Surgery (FFS)
• Voice Feminisation Surgery (VFS) (types include glottoplasty, cricothyroid approximation, laser assisted voice adjustment)

They originally were trying to argue that our GP would need to do it, so we went above them to check, and then sent the EOEGS the email chain.

These IFRs will need to be submitted to the IFR team at our local Integrated Care Board (ICB) for review. The local ICB will almost certainly refuse them all, so that they don't set any precedent and then have to pay for other gender-affirming care recommended by international experts. Nonetheless, at least we'll know we've exhausted all avenues before likely turning to crowdfunding or other means.

We might add to and/or edit this later, but we'll stop there for now and add some hashtags.

#trans #transgender #healthcare #TransHealthcare #GenderAffirmingHealthcare #NHS #NHSEngland #IFR #ICB #EOEGS #EastOfEnglandGenderService #TransRights #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransLiberation #TransLiberationNow #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #LGBTQIA2S+ #DesegregateTransHealthcare

@annecoombes I reported a similar issue on the East Of England Gender Service (EOEGS) webpage, where it hadn't been updated in ages. They advised me that they didn't know how to update the page or who was meant to be doing it 🤦‍♀️

It's been stuck on September 2020 for ages as a result, despite them moving to at least May 2021.

#EOEGS #EastOfEnglandGenderService #NHSEngland #Nottinghamshire

https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/east-of-england-gender-service