“Mi ha lasciato traumatizzato”: le barriere all’accesso all’assistenza sanitaria transgender in Irlanda

I want to point out something that was only alluded to in the article. It is said that the waiting times are long but never specified how long. The official NGS website states that the current waiting time for the first meeting (not hormones, the first meeting) is 4 years as they are now seeing people referred in 2021. This is only half true. It is indeed true that they are currently seeing people from 2021 but the rate of people referred far exceeds the rate at which they check people. Thanks to the tireless [work ](https://the-beacon.ie/tag/national-gender-service/)by some really dedicated people we know that the actual waiting time is currently closer to [13 years](https://the-beacon.ie/2025/01/28/over-2000-people-waiting-for-trans-healthcare-in-ireland/), meaning that the person referred today will have to wait at least 13 years to be seen at current rate. Again, this is for the first meeting. As you can see in the article, it can take years to get to the hormones once you actually start the process.

This article barely scratches the surface of the pain that NGS inflicts on trans people, same people they are supposed to actually provide healthcare to.

As an example, I will share my own experience with NGS as someone who is still on the waiting list. Two and a half years ago when I decided I will transition I did my research and figured that waiting with NGS will take me nowhere, so I went to the private provider right away. In fact, same private provider based in Singapore like the person in article did. Back then, this was basically the only option available in Ireland that did not include traveling to UK.

I went to my GP and told them what my intentions are. My GP has said that they will not do a shared care with the provider but will do my blood tests every 3 or 6 months as scheduled. Essentially, my GP would test my levels and send results to me. I would then forward them to the provider and they would send me next prescription. I specifically told my GP at the time to not refer me to NGS.

A year into HRT I was feeling more confident about the whole thing and thought… you know what, I might as well give NGS a try. I asked my GP to refer me and they did. A month later a letter from NGS was sent to me and my GP and confirmed I am on the waitlist. But that was not all. In the letter, NGS was very clear they do not approve of these private providers and that my GP should immediately stop providing me with blood tests to check my hormone levels as they are not a good indicator of health.

You don’t need to be a doctor to understand that if someone is taking medication that alters their hormone levels that you absolutely should check their levels regularly because the levels are heavily dependent on the dosage and there are health risks associated with levels being either too low or too high. My GP made a decision to no longer provide me with tests, leaving me stranded. I don’t blame my GP for this, but I 100% blame NGS.

My case is not a single isolated incident. This has been happening regularly to every trans person who did the same as me.

The point about this being the perfect distilled version of Irish healthcare – paternalistic, inefficient, and outdated is absolutely spot on.

If you’re restricting a service like this to adults, you should be treating them like adults, and letting them make their own – informed – decisions.

I know so many trans people who have benefitted from gender affirming care. And like from the 90s onwards – not just recently, and all of them, without exception, have transformed their lives.

Some of them I almost wouldn’t have known they were depressed until I saw what the non-depressed version of them was like. People who never spoke to anyone became social butterflies. Jeans and hoodies people became super confident into fashion. Etc. It’s like they came alive. I can’t pretend to understand how it feels before and after, but I’ve seen how it helps people, and it really does. I know people now who’ve been transitioned for 3 decades. I feel so gaslit when people go on about how it’s a trend and a phase. Or that it’s being done maliciously.

And of course, anyone who has the money can receive respectful, informed-consent care through private providers, and abroad. It’s just the people reliant on our public system who have to be treated like this.

My experience with the NGS was pretty painless but I had already been diagnosed in the UK and had been on hormones for years. After I returned home my gp was quite happy to give me continued prescriptions at the level set by the endo in England, but also wanted to refer me to the NGS.

I started receiving letters from them almost immediately asking for my records from England (which were a nightmare to get sent over) and for some reason proof of the orchidectomy I had had years and years ago. Luckily I still had the letter from the surgeon confirming that he would perform the surgery so I passed a copy of that on to them.

I eventually received an appointment some 11 months after the referral. I went to the appointment and was told to stay on my current hormone dosage. And that was basically it. They saw me once more a year later and told me they were happy for me to continue with my current dosage and there was no need for me to continue seeing them. All in all for me it was pretty painless but I know I’m an outlier.

All areas of Irish healthcare are a shambles.