Ep 6. Access to healthcare for trans people

For this week’s podcast, we’re talking access to healthcare for trans people and how can create a system that works in their favour, not against them. 

 

I’m joined by Alexa Moore from TransgenderNI, an amazing organisation dedicated to improving the lives of trans people in Northern Ireland. 

 

As Alexa puts it in the episode, while the so-called ‘arguments’ of the ‘culture war’ continue, it distracts us from the real issues facing the trans community and one of those is access to healthcare. According to Stonewall, nearly a fifth (24%) of trans people surveyed fear discrimination from a healthcare provider, meaning many put off asking healthcare at all. We need to be creating a healthcare system that prioritises the needs of trans individuals, not vilifying them and Alexa and her colleagues have a plan on how to do just that. 

 

Visions for the future

⇣ Decentralising care to allow trans people to access care through their GPs, for example.

⛔️ No gatekeeping of services based on whether you’ve accessed another, for example, like mental health

🤝 Meaningfully integrating trans people into the way services are run 

 

What you can do

💰 Donate to support the work of TransgenderNI, or other trans organisations in your area

✍️ Write to your local MP, particularly if you live in NI, to highlight the need for urgent support & access to healthcare for trans communities

Transgender NI have a helpful template here which you can personalise to your own experience - https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/urgent-support-for-trans-communities 

✊ If you are a member of a political party in the UK, raise awareness of the issues surrounding access to healthcare and particularly from a Northern Irish perspective. We cannot allow parts of the UK to be left behind

 

Find out more about the work of TransgenderNI at - https://transgenderni.org.uk/