Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for appointments at NHS gender identity clinics.

NHS England has published a two-year action plan, which sets out how it will continue to transform and improve children and young people’s gender services. Investment in children and young people’s gender services in 2024/25 has more than doubled compared to 2023/24 and will increase further as new services are established.

In April 2024, NHS England opened two new services in the North West and London that offer a holistic clinical model, embedding multi-disciplinary teams in specialist children’s hospitals. A third new service will open in the South West later in the autumn, and a fourth in the East of England in spring of next year. NHS England is advancing towards meeting its commitment for there to be a specialist children’s gender service in every region by 2026. These new services will increase service capacity and reduce waiting lists.

NHS England has written to all children and young people on the waiting list for services, to offer them a mental health assessment. It has also rolled out a new referral pathway into children and young people gender services, which ensures that children are assessed more holistically through referral via pediatrics or children’s mental health services.