Hundreds of trans people ‘refused hormone replacement therapy by GPs’

More than 200 trans people in the UK have been prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by their GPs in the past year, research by LGBTQ+ publications has revealed.

According to a Trans Actual data summary report, 215 people have been refused hormones. In 26 per cent of these cases, individuals – 56 of them – had a referral from an NHS gender clinic.

The figures follow a rise in personal accounts of rejection of HRT posted on social media by transgender people in the wake of the Cass Report and a controversial statement from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

The results, which were shared with QueerAF and What La Transafter the wider investigation of those publications on HRT refusals showed that the majority of the 56 people were in England (86%), with nine per cent and five per cent in Scotland and Wales them, respectively. There was no data recorded for Northern Ireland.

Twenty-seven per cent were seeking a new prescription, 73 per cent had previously been on HRT and 38 per cent had already been discharged from an NHS gender clinic.

Forty-five percent of respondents had been taking HRT for more than five years, and 20% had been taking it for less than a year.

‘Transphobic’ GPs accused of ‘bigotry’

The main reasons given for refusing to issue the prescriptions were that GPs “didn’t feel competent to (do it)”, there was no shared policy between local care councils and GPs header and “personal beliefs”.

Speaking to QueerAF, Keyne Walker, chief strategy officer at Trans Actual, said: “Some GPs admitted it was down to their personal beliefs.

“Transphobic GPs, particularly in England, feel empowered to unilaterally deprive their patients of critical medication because of their own bigotry, and every part of the NHS must take responsibility for letting this happen.”

Many of the GPs who refused to issue prescriptions are believed to have been emboldened by a statement from the RCGP in April saying they did not have to provide gender-affirming care.

“We received comments and feedback from a number of organizations and individual GPs following the publication of our revised statement in April,” the RCGP said in additional guidance issued earlier this month.

“After carefully reviewing and considering the comments, we have added two highlighted clarification sections to our statement below, along with some minor edits to relevant sections of the statement to reflect our points of clarification. These remain in in line with our previously approved board statement.”

The statement continued: “We know that caring for transgender and gender-questioning people is complex. We recognize that we must recognize the experiences of our transgender patients as a result of the changes taking place in our health care system and the limited capacity of ours.

“We recognize the deep sense of pain and frustration felt by many of our transgender patients, and the university remains strongly committed to improving services for gender nonconforming patients.

“We continue to call for a significant expansion of dedicated resources and services to ensure timely access to high-quality care. We are hopeful that, with appropriate investment and action, the establishment of regional mismatch clinics gender in England will lead to positive change in waiting lists and improved care and health outcomes.”

While welcoming the clarification, TransActual demanded “accountability from the RCGP for the harm its guidance has caused and the need to go much further in its guidance to ensure that rogue GPs stop fiddling with trans people’s critical medications and have a clear responsibility to comply.” with the prescription of HRT by the gender clinics”.

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