Trans adults in the UK are waiting a third of their life for an NHS gender-clinic appointment
Some trans adults are waiting over two decades for a first appointment with a gender clinic. (Getty)
Some trans adults are waiting over two decades for a first appointment with a gender clinic. (Getty)
Trans people in the UK will have to wait for more than a third of their life time for an appointment with an NHS gender clinic.
A new report has revealed that NHS gender clinics in the UK are widely failing to meet demand as waiting lists for trans healthcare increase each year, and in some parts of the country, trans people are waiting almost three times longer than the average British life expectancy for a first appointment.
A Freedom of Information request from QueerAF, What the Trans? and Claire’s Trans Talks has shown that, as of March 2025, 48,000 people were waiting for their first appointment at one of the UK’s 15 gender clinics, and for every person seen in 2024, four more people joined the list.
In addition, demand for services such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescriptions increased by 12.5 per cent from the previous year.
The report estimated that the average estimated wait in most areas in the UK was 25 years. However, in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, people are having to endure two-and-a-half times that.
The wait varies widely around the UK, according to QueerAF. Times can range from three years in Nottingham, to 41 years in Belfast and a staggering 224 years in Glasgow.
Gender clinic waiting times ‘disappointing but unsurprising’
Claire’s Trans Talks founder Claire Prosho called the figures “disappointing but unsurprising” and criticised the NHS and the government for failing to improve access to “life-saving” healthcare. According to the research, gender clinics would have had to provide 10,000 initial assessments last year alone to meet demand.
“It is beyond time for the current failed ‘diagnostic’ service models to be replaced by a simple informed consent model, in line with international best-practice and consultation with the trans community,” Prosho said.
The study came just days after health secretary Wes Streeting spoke about “unacceptable” waiting times for accessing NHS care.
Several patients yet to have their first assessment said they had felt “lied to” when told to expect a 20-month wait, with one telling QueerAF: “If I’d known at the time it would be seven years, I would have gone to a different gender clinic.”
Professor James Palmer, NHS England’s medical director for specialised services, acknowledged the delays, saying: “This is why we have commissioned an independently led review into the operation and delivery of the adult gender dysphoria clinics, alongside work already undertaken to introduce new care models that are making significant progress in helping to bring down these very long waits.”
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