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UK Doctors and the NHS.

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  • I was listening to a radio program during the week and the topic of being transgender came up again.

    For the second time someone calling themselves Julia phoned in , it was not me. Anyone who knows me would know it is not me because I do not have a croaky old voice as this person does.

    The problem is this person has serious problems with what seems the whole world. The person said live on air that it is GP's and the NHS that causes high suicide rates in transgender people.

     

    Since my transition over a decade ago I must have seen well over 100 GP's and sh*t knows how many nurses , not one of them has shown me any disrespect. I know I am not in a minority but that person is telling what could be a bad experience they had to hundreds of thousands of people. If they had a problem telling the world we all do is totally wrong.

    I have already sent an email to the BBC telling them not to allow that person on air again. That person does not represent me and I would think not the majority of other transgender individuals either.

     

    The doctors I have seen within the NHS saved my life they did not put an end to it. Without them I would have committed suicide before I even began my transition. The day I told the first doctor about me being transexual was like having a ton of bricks lifted off me. The female doctor was kind thoughtfull and and put the wheels into motion as soon as she could to get me referred to the correct place , she even stayed behind after surgery had finished 2 or 3 times a week to help me.

     

    I created a poster that has an image of me on it explaining to people you are in the right place to talk to your doctor about gender dysphoria. That poster is displayed in both waiting rooms in my doctors surgery which has over 10.000 patients. So here am I doing my best to tell people your doctor will understand and help and that other person saying they will push you to suicide.

    I know I am right because there is nothing different about me than any other person. So if one person has a bad experience or if anyone reading this does just see a different doctor , do not lie on live radio making out the NHS has no time for us. The NHS is having to make cuts in all areas they are not just picking on us.

    Every single experience I have had with them has been good. I am the only transexual patient at my local doctors and a new nurse at my surgery who took my blood last week told me I am the first transexual she has seen for about 12 years.

     

    I would be interested to know if anyone has had any problems with the NHS , I mean real problems not things like having to wait your turn , then when it is your turn you cannot be arsed to turn up. Keep it honest please.

     

    Thank you and take care xx

      April 17, 2016 12:58 AM BST
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  • I can honestly say I have never encountered malcious behaviour from any NHS staff, always careing and compasionate, I have met a few that were unfamilar with transexualism and gender identity disorders, especially from therapists, apart from one who seemed to have his own disorder problems, in the main they admitted they were not qualified in this field, but were gracious enough to give me their time and made enquiries to refer me to someone who was, the staff at Addenbrooks were beyond reproach.

     

    Perhaps there are too many who want it NOW, or only hear what they want to hear. not understanding the dangers of fast track and avoiding the work they need to do, to be succesful, confident and contented at the end.

    Cristine Jennifer Shye.  B/L.  B/Acc
      April 17, 2016 3:32 PM BST
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  • Thank you Crissie. I agree some do not know about or understand about transexualism as the first GP I told admitted it , she was very willing to understand though. That day I told her was the last time any of the staff at my surgery saw me as that him thing I was pretending to be. I felt comfortable and confident enough to change fulltime that day , I have never looked back. I can recall her saying to me "I wondered why you always asked to see a female doctor" I have done all of my adult life.

     

    We worked together and she gave up her time to research and refer me to the right place.

    I cannot fault any treatment I have had on the NHS.

     

    The I want it now or only hear what they want to hear gang need a reality check , it is not like a broken finger that can be fixed and forgotten about in a few weeks this is life changing. They have to be sure and for good reason. When I speak about trans issues anywhere I speak for myself and my experiences. The person I mentioned above cannot say the NHS is the reason for high suicide rates , I could not believe what I was hearing. I just hope the BBC take notice of my email and do not allow that person live on air in the future , unless it is to apologise for their ignorance.

     

    Thank you again , Julia xx

      April 17, 2016 4:31 PM BST
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    I find it really Sad that the media especially on  "call ins"will often prioritise the most extreme and distorted view.The BBC is a "Public Service Broadcaster" by Charter ,but does a dis-service especially on the NHS,.My Mum spent her working life as a Nurse in the NHS, my sister is still working as a Nurse ,and my long term partner works in the NHS also.I get to hear their experiences and they end up dealing with a lot more than "the physical health" patient problems that are easy to label and count.

      When there is a "transgender " feature on the Radio, I can remember that on more than one occassion someone gets in to comment along the lines of -"There are so many more deserving cases of NHS care than Transgender people, -I do hope they are not depriving others and costing us money".

    Personally I decided to pay for all my Treatment, and there is every indication that many trans people in the Uk are doing the same simply because the waiting times for referral and backlogs are so long that many are going privately .The BBC should acknowledge that there is the unheard of and unseen voice of many transgendered people who STILL  feel they cannot get any help and are stigmatized.

    The biggest improvements by The NHS are when you can just go to your GP and know that there is someone not judging you and putting a poltical social judgement on you.I cannot fault the NHS as all the people I have encountered have been helpful and considerate even though they are working in very resource constraint circumstances.

    BTW someone wrote in to the Telegraph to say the Junior doctors  problem is down to too many female doctors being trained up, and then leaving  ...and it got published !!!

     

    <p>Donna_V</p>
      April 18, 2016 8:58 AM BST
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  • Thank you Donna. I seriously do not think people who work within the NHS would put their jobs and career at risk by discriminating towards anyone including transgender people. As Crissie has pointed out some are not familiar with gender itentity disorders but that is most likely due to the lack of actually meeting people have GID's.

     

    I would say at least 5% of the population have some kind of gender itentity issue. I would also say that at least 1% of the population are actually transexual. Some just live with it and hide it and if something is hidden then how will anyone learn?. We see peoples stories on here and the internet that they cannot hide it anymore. When that happens it starts to affect their familys , if they married and had children the problem then gets 100 times worse.

     

    My doctors and staff at my surgery call me special , that is ridiculous as there is nothing special about me. They know and I know I am not 1 in 10.000 , the idea of the poster was to let people know it is okay to talk to your doctor. I hope young people who see it can now feel confident enough to tell their doctor. Admittedly the doctors have learnt from me over the years so they now know how the system works and they also know they can ask me anything.

     

    Yes waiting lists on the NHS are long but they are long for other problems not related to being transgender.

    The main problem the NHS gender clinics have in the UK is time wasters. 50% of appointments are no shows , most cannot even be arsed to cancel the appointment so someone else can take it. One of the first things I was asked was , will you be able to accept an appointment at short notice if we have a cancellation? My answer was yes and I did take someone elses slot. If people are genuine they would do the same but some do not.

     

    A member of this website admitted they flushed their appointment down the loo and never cancelled it. If that is their attitude then to me it is shouting out loud they are not serious.

     

    That person who called the BBC was put on air just before the program ended , that is now the second time I know of that the same person has done the same thing , phone in at the last minute.

     

    Take care , Julia x

      April 18, 2016 5:14 PM BST
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  • I found out some bad news from the Trans Gender clinic today - it looks like September before I even get my first appointment. It is a shame that someone like me who went into this with a positive attitude is now resigned to the fact that I will never get on hormone treatment and even less likely to ever get surgery. Once I know how much money I will have available this Autumn I will seriously look at paying for the operation myself. I am reluctant to buy hormones from the internet - they may end up being weed killer. The worst thing I did was to follow advice from someone to opt for Exeter as my choice of clinic. I have found out more from a chat with someone while making a brew a tea than than I got from their website. I honestly thought we had risen from the dark ages but it seems they are still with us.

    Nichola

      April 18, 2016 5:45 PM BST
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  • A couple of questions Nichola.

     

    (1) Do you have a good relationship with your GP?.

    (2) Have you been living your life fulltime in your unassigned gender at birth without reverting back.

    (3) If you have reverted back even for just a day could it have been possible that anyone from the NHS could have seen you?.

     

    Those questions have nothing to do with your appointment but there is a good reason I am asking that could help you.

     

    Take care , Julia.

      April 18, 2016 6:36 PM BST
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  • 1 yes - my GP is marvelous.

     

    2 yes all the time for nearly 2 years now

     

    3 no not at all

     

     

    Nichola

      April 18, 2016 7:00 PM BST
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  • Okay Nichola here is what you need to do. Information now deleted

     

    Take care , Julia

    This post was edited by Former Member at April 19, 2016 11:51 PM BST
      April 18, 2016 7:30 PM BST
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  • thanks Julia - i will try that - I don't want to have to go down the road of buying stuff from Ebay whioh might be a cure for Horse flu or weed killer. I hear of others having had all sorts over the past months  (hormones and physh tests etc) yet I am still waiting for an initial appointment. The NHS site is useless - so little info on there.  Honestly it warns that we will have to sit to pee after having my willy cut off. As if I don't know that - it dioes not tell me that I needn't have great holes carved me if I don't want to. I found that out from a friend who was about to have exactly what I want while she was making a pot of tea.

     

    Nichola

      April 18, 2016 8:07 PM BST
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  • Nichola the NHS website can be very helpfull if you look in the right places. One thing you should never do is believe everything you read on the internet from random websites. The reason you can believe me is because what I have told you to do is how I was prescribed hormones 6 months before my first appointment at the gender clinic , also people on here will tell you I would not lie to you or anyone else.

     

    If you are a smoker you will have to stop smoking for 3 months before you can be prescribed any hormones , and they will test you to make sure you have stopped.

     

    Take care , Julia

      April 18, 2016 8:19 PM BST
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    Hi Julia,Nichola,

                          Its interesting Julia comments about 1% being Transgendered.I made a blog post "silly numbers ,UK Transgendered" which relates the numbers to the health service provision for UK.Summarising Officially the BBC and NHS put a figure of 1 in 10,000 as being transgendered based on about 6.5thousand currently living inthe UK,population roughly 65million,who have officially registered themselves as Transgendered by making a definite registering to a government Department that counts.so name change ,Passport change,driving licence change to indicate a definite personal action to change their Birth gender.

      So currently the UK NHS provision for 1 in 10,000.which is a long way from 1 in 100.Personally I get the impression that 1 in 1000, will be affected by significant gender dysphoria in their lives.

    As julia points out and I am also aware many GICs have a problem with non attendence, and its quite likely that there are some non attendances by people with a genuine problem.

    Overall the Government and NHS are playing bad side ,nice side between them to deal with the discrepancy in numbers and resourcing. Best bet for me was to get a good relationship with NHS ,and if you can identify people in the  NHS who do private work, so you can progrees this and not feel you have been left out.There are some really excellent people in the UK in the NHS and medical profession who understand transgendered people and can help.

       

    <p>Donna_V</p>
      April 19, 2016 10:30 AM BST
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