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Last time I accessed gynaecology care in the UK:
Hospital 1 assumed my referral was a mistake, unceremoniously dumped me off the waiting list. My lovely GP was annoyed (& #39;do they think I& #39;m a moron?& #39;), wrote back to them to spell it out.
Hospital 1 assumed my referral was a mistake, unceremoniously dumped me off the waiting list. My lovely GP was annoyed (& #39;do they think I& #39;m a moron?& #39;), wrote back to them to spell it out.
They refused to treat me anyway. (Yes, I know this was illegal under EA2010. On the other hand - would you want to see a gynaecologist who doesn& #39;t want to treat you?)
Lovely GP suggested I go to hospital 2, where he& #39;d done some of his training, which he thought might be more cosmopolitan. They accepted my referral. I turned up (decided to go formally dressed, figured others in the waiting rm might assume I was a student or something)
Had the *weirdest* consultation of my life. As far as I can work out, the consultant had met James Barrett of CHX GIC at some function a yr or 2 ago, and now believed he knew all about the trans pathway. However, he wouldn& #39;t talk to me directly, so all relayed via SHO
SHO: The consultant says you need to be referred to CHX GIC.
Me: No I don& #39;t. I was diagnosed years ago, I& #39;ve been on hormones for years. There is no point in me going to CHX (SHO leaves room to consult with consultant).
Me: No I don& #39;t. I was diagnosed years ago, I& #39;ve been on hormones for years. There is no point in me going to CHX (SHO leaves room to consult with consultant).
SHO - Co nsultant is certain all gynae care for trans people is provided by James Barrett& #39;s team is CHX
Me: James Barrett is a psy chiatrist. He cannot provide gynae care (SHO leaves to consult again. Repeat a couple of times)
Me: James Barrett is a psy chiatrist. He cannot provide gynae care (SHO leaves to consult again. Repeat a couple of times)
Eventually I persuade SHO to ring CHX in front of me. I hear them say they don& #39;t offer gynae care. However, they & #39;helpfully& #39; offer to fax through a list of surgeons they& #39;ve referred people to before. We get the list. It& #39;s mastectomy surgeons.
I think the poor old SHO is getting embarrassed by now. We talk through what I need. He agrees & #39;Oh yes, we can do that no problem, but that& #39;s not the pathway. The consultant is sure you need to go somewhere else.& #39;
It& #39;s pretty obvio we& #39;re not going to win this one. I leave. Fortu nately I see my mate a few weeks later, and he tells me the name of a gynaecologist at hospital 3 who has treated several trans men. I go there and fortunately he will treat me.
There& #39;s still a few problems. I have to go to a hospital with "For Women" emblazoned on everything. I have an ultrasound, which requires a full bladder. After that you need to pee - but the & #39;For Women& #39; hospital doesn& #39;t have any patient loos for men.
I& #39;m warned my surgery is more likely to get & #39;bumped& #39;, because they& #39;re going to have to beg a ward placement from another department. Post surgery the nurses keep offering me a pee bottle that doesn& #39;t work for my anatomy (although my notes must say I& #39;ve had a gynae procedure)
Some one asks me a deeply personal quesiton about my future genital plans. But hey, I got care.
Public health messages occasionally recognising that trans men and non-binary people might exist and need gynae care is nice, but it is not even approaching the bare minimum of recognising and addressing the functional barriers that exist.
There& #39;s sometimes a suggestion that somehow all this will be fixed by writing "SEX: F" on things. But with the possible exception of the admin in hospital 1 who bumped me off the list, no-one at any stage was confused about the approximate configuration of my anatomy.
