Health Services: Transgender People
(asked on 23rd March 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure trans people have equal access to healthcare.
All patients, including LGBT+ patients, should feel comfortable and confident accessing National Health Services when they need to. Nobody should experience discrimination while accessing the healthcare they need.
We understand LGBT+ patients experience specific barriers to access and that in part is why last year my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, commissioned NHS England to undertake an LGBT+ health evidence review.
The review is being led by Dr Michael Brady, the National Advisor for LGBT+ Health at NHS England, and its objectives are:
- identifying barriers to accessing healthcare services for LGBT+ people;
- exploring experiences of healthcare, notably areas of poorer experience; and
- understanding the impact of LGBT+ health inequalities on outcomes and patient safety.
The review is expected to conclude in Spring 2026 with a final report and recommendations for my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Further information about what the review covers, as well as its methodology, can be found at the following link:
Transgender people can access specialist services for gender dysphoria and incongruence, and the Government recognises that waiting times are far too long for children and young people, and adults. This is why we are working closely with NHS England to implement recommendations from the Cass Review and NHS Adult Gender Services Review to improve these services. To that end NHS England has significantly increased investment in these services. It has opened three new regional gender services for children and young people since April 2024, with an ambition to have service provision in every region by 2026/27 and has increased the number of adult clinics from seven to 12 since 2020.