Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to improve access to the NHS for transgender adults.

The Government wants all patients, including transgender adults, to feel safe and confident in accessing National Health Service health services. This is part of our mission to ensure that the NHS is there for everyone when they need it, providing equal access to health care which promotes choice and inclusivity.

Transgender adults may seek access to NHS gender services specifically and these should be available when needed. NHS England has increased the number of adult Gender Dysphoria Clinics in England from seven to 12. The rollout of these new clinics is helping to tackle long waiting times, which had increased due to a shortage of specialist clinical staff to meet the rapidly rising demand.

NHS England is currently undertaking a review of adult gender services, chaired by Dr David Levy. The review will examine the model of care and operating procedures of each service, and will carefully consider experiences, feedback, and outcomes from clinicians and patients, with the aim of producing an updated service specification.