I have been kept waiting for 1,500 days with no treatment. Clinic never responds to emails, doesn’t pick up the phone, and despite several requests to update their systems, correspondence is always addressed with former details I have not used in years. If not for sheer desperation and lack of alternative, I would not use this service.
I had my 2nd appointment (as I was referred from the child's clinic) on April 1st. I was told 2 weeks, it was then when I had my follow up online appointment 6 months later that they were surprised I wasn't on any hormones or heard anything. The communication at this clinic is terrible, the phone line times are conveniently placed so you can't call before and after work and when you do call them it's a 2 minute conversation about how you need to be patient and "you'll be contacted soon". You are almost never contacted, I had my blood test done a month and a half ago and still not heard anything from the gender clinic's side. My mental health has declined in the past few months as the wait goes on and you are left to feel unheard and ignored. I understand it's a busy service but should take into consideration these waiting times are absolutely unacceptable. Keep contacting them, don't let them forget that you're existing!
Accessibility is awful,stepless/wheelchair access is around the back with a separate reception area. No matter how many times you remind them the time you are coming, orthe assure you that you can arrive straight to the accessible entrance, no one has ever been there in all my time coming here. Phone lines are usually down so you can't call to let them know that you need access. I have far too often had to ask strangers to ring the bell at the main entrance (inaccessible due to stairs) just to make it to my appointments. Communication between staff isn't great, mistakes are often made and the fault always seems to fall with the patient. The staff seem to be nice, but system they're in makes any sort of communication or dealing with issues truly exhausting.
Clinician didn’t bother showing up to the appointment and the phone lines don’t open 5/7ths of the week so no way of getting in contact with them other than a generic email. It’s people’s lives that are being put on pause and impacted and “we’ve only out found out” isn’t an acceptable excuse. A 7 year waitlist and still being pushed back weeks is diabolical. I understand the service is underfunded but my god, there must be a better way than stringing people along.
I was given an appointment for 10:30am, apparently the clinician had written the wrong time in her ledger. I was recorded as having missed the appointment with my GP and will likely now have at least a few months more delay through no fault of my own. Not even so much as an apology for the obligations I had to dance around for nothing. This service is run by circus clowns.
why is this service so underfunded, my trans daughter has been waiting 3 year so far. Can not leave the house for fears and no one understanding. We are in Birmingham why and how will we even get to Nottingham. Hoping she will get seen by the end of 2024 until then she remains hiding in the safety of her home.
The people there are really nice, but actually getting any contact from them to begin with, is almost impossible. Currently have sent roughly 20 emails in a month, just simply asking what I should be doing, to no response at all. Just left in the dark
The actual clinicians are realy nice and helpful, but most of the time you are completely unable to see or contact them as the phone lines are always busy and nobody ever picks up the phone. Reception/admin forget to send letters, do not send emails or appointments out to patients. Currently on hold for half an hour as I am supposed to be having an online appointment today with the endochrine nurse but they have not sent me an invite to join the call. One of the letters I have been sent states it was typed on 5th September but not printed and sent to me until 1st November. Unacceptable service from administration team, especially for a service that is already so hard for people to access.
I got referred about 4 years ago and heard nothing so I rang up today and got told that I was referred in 2021 and so it will be another year wait. I replied with so actually 3 and she said yes. I then said I might as well go black market and she had no worries about it. Considering grey market testosterone is a big issue among the community I find clinics to be welcoming the use of it with no worries on the effect that it might have considering it’s grey market and might not even be testogel. Disgusting. I now understand why the suicide rate of trans people is between 22% and 43% just in 2015. It’s people who run places like this that sign them to death in the first place. Killing people because they’re too lazy to actually help.
I was referred here several years ago. At first it was fine, I was seen regularly, got my top surgery and hormones, but then the GIC just seemed to disappear around the time I was referred for a hysto. I had one video consult with them before I had some surgery, and then nothing. This was in 2019. I was told by my surgeon that the GIC would need to sort ouy blood tests for me to ensure my hormone levels were good, as I had stopped taking testosterone and my ovaries would be performing at half capacity, so it needed monitoring in case they shut down, which would mean needing to go on hormone treatment again, according to the surgeon. Nothing happened. I was told letters were sent out, but I never recieved a single one, nor did my GP, who refused to do blood tests without the GIC letters. I tried for the past few years to contact the GIC via emails, I sent letters, I left messages, I called them every week, but never heard from them. I feel utterly let down by the service, and feel like they just swept me under the rug. I now can't get my GP to run these blood tests, because he refuses unless the GIC say so. At this point I feel like it's negligence on the part of the GIC. I know they are busy, but this is madness and kind of unethical, because if you cannot get in contact with them, your treatment is forced to a standstill. I am now in a situation where I am still unsure about my gender, cannot get blood tests done to check my hormone levels and at this point I am giving up and just trying to accept the fact that nothing is going to happen and that my health might be at risk.
The Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health, is located at 12 Broad St, Nottingham NG1 3AL, UK
You can contact The Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health, at +44 115 876 0160
You can find directions to The Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health, by following this map link