The number of adults
undergoing gender reassignment procedures on the NHS in England has risen
sharply, with a seventy-four percent increase in the number of male to female
procedures since 2002 according to Sky news.
There has been a dramatic
increase in the number of children seeking medical treatment for gender
dysphoria on the NHS.
Data from Tavistock and
Portman NHS Trust, the only UK clinic to provide medical treatment to
transgender children, show a fivefold increase in referrals over the past five years,
up from 139 in 2010, to 697 last year.
The figures come as a senior
doctor admitted that the NHS needed to do more to keep up with demand for the
treatment, with potentially life-threatening consequences for some transgender
people.
"Certainly not
treating people is not a neutral act it will do harm - there are a number of
studies that report evidence of suicide and self-harm among trans people who
are unable to access care," said Dr John Dean, chair of the National
Clinical Reference Group for Gender Identity Services.
"It is an intensely
demeaning and frustrating experience to have to live in a social role in a body
that is incompatible with your deepest inner sense of self."
At a youth group for
transgender teens in Nottingham, young people described the attempt to access
treatment as a race against time to beat the onset of puberty.
Sky News
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