Meeting of the Parliament 08 May 2024
Yes—absolutely. The other thing that was highlighted at committee was the on-going distress and mental health issues for those young people who experience long waits.
From listening to the debate so far, many could believe that people’s experience of gender identity services is overwhelmingly negative. For some, their most negative experience is to do with waiting times and not getting the care that they should receive. Although many have said that receiving the gender-affirming care that they needed was life saving and that it brought joy and allowed them to be their true selves, that does not mean that services do not need to be improved.
In addition to waiting times, clinicians’ confidence in providing care is a very current and live issue. In the briefing that Scottish Trans provided ahead of the debate, it notes that, at the moment, far too few healthcare practitioners feel confident about supporting children and young people who are exploring or feeling distressed about their gender identity. Scottish Trans frequently hears from young people who seek support for non-gender-related distress such as depression or anxiety, who are referred on to specialist gender identity services if they also disclose that they are feeling uncertain about their gender identity or that they are trans. That means that they are put on extremely long waiting lists, sometimes for years, and they receive no support in the meantime, which is totally unacceptable. It is vital that, in general, children and young people’s mental health services and wider health services are able to provide support to all young people who fall within their area of expertise. That clearly highlights the need for more training.
One of the commitments in the Scottish strategic action framework for the improvement of gender identity services is the development of a transgender care knowledge and skills framework, which could result in the upskilling of healthcare practitioners across the NHS on the provision of care for trans people. I would be grateful if the minister could provide an update on work on that when she sums up.
I remain concerned about what the on-going debate here and on social media is doing for those young people who are only trying to access the care that they need and who have been thrust into an increasingly heated and partisan political storm. That very small group of young people need our support, not our judgment.
15:37