Transgender patients in Nottinghamshire, England, are blasting a local general practitioner’s (GP) recent decision to stop prescribing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the purposes of gender-affirming care.
Late last month, Jubilee Park Medical Partnership announced it would cease prescribing the medication to transgender patients, according to U.K. LGBTQ+ outlet PinkNews. Trans people who were already receiving HRT from practices run by the partnership say they’ve been told their prescriptions will be withdrawn.
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In a December 27 post on Instagram, Nottingham Against Transphobia criticized the decision and Jubilee Park’s lack of a “safety net” for patients whose access to HRT may be cut off. The group also blasted the partnership for its lack of any “meaningful co-operation” with the local gender identity clinic (GIC) and for continuing to prescribe HRT to cisgender patients.
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“The discrimination and lack of concern for trans patients is clear,” the group’s post declared.
During a December 31 protest organized by Nottingham Against Transphobia outside Jubilee Park Medical Centre in Carlton, 29-year-old Samathy Barratt told Nottinghamshire Live that she has been “stressed and upset about how I’m going to access healthcare” following the decision.
“If I weren’t to receive testosterone blocking meds I would experience a reversal of the transitioning effects,” said Barratt, who has been receiving medication through a Jubilee Park-run practice. “That would be devastating for my mental health to be forced to detransition.”
Barratt added that she’s particularly worried about the “significant health risks” patients who have had gender-affirming surgery may face should they lose access to HRT.
According to Nottinghamshire Live, Jubilee Park said that the decision to stop prescribing HRT to trans patients was made due to lack of funding and that the service was not “part of the GP contract.” A spokesperson for the partnership said that while Jubilee Park “continues to be very supportive of our transgender patients… This work is more appropriately provided by a specialist as it is beyond the clinical expertise and knowledge of the GPs to provide this service in the way that it should be provided.”
A spokesperson for NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire explained, “Specialist gender dysphoria services are commissioned by [England’s National Health Service] and delivered through specialist Gender Identity Clinics (GICs), including the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health.” But, they told Nottinghamshire Live, “the service does not include the prescribing, supply, and related monitoring of any medications. Instead, the GIC will request the GP carry out this element of the patient’s care with guidance and a management plan from gender specialists. There has been no change to the commissioning arrangements, and we continue to work with local GPs to support patient services.”
“This is a failing GP group which is financially struggling and think they can cut this to save money,” Sophie England, who organized the December 31 protest, said of Jubilee Park. “If I was a cisgender woman getting the same hormones it would carry on, transgender people should get the same level of care.”
In its December 27 post, Nottingham Against Transphobia compared denying trans people access to HRT to denying access to abortions. “If the practice managers had learned a SINGLE thing from backstreet abortions, the danger that Jubilee Medical Partnership are pushing their patients into would be completely blindingly obvious, but apparently they have learned absolutely nothing, and practice managers like the ones at Jubilee Medical Partnership are happy to watch their patients suffer and die because of their actions,” the post reads.
Barratt told Nottinghamshire Live that trans people who lose access to HRT through their GPs will be left with the choice of either accessing the medication privately, which she described as “extortionately expensive,” or buying it online.
“I may end up having to ‘DIY’ my medication if I can’t find an NHS GP to help. I’d much rather enjoy being treated for my NHS-diagnosed medical condition by an NHS doctor,” Barratt told PinkNews. “As history shows us, removing people’s access to healthcare does not remove the need for it. People will get what they need outside of safe channels.”
But as Nottingham Against Transphobia notes, getting HRT meds online and taking them without medical supervision can be risky. People who do so, the group said, “don’t get dosage advice from medical professionals, they don’t get proper training about how to keep a needle sterile, and they don’t have their bloods monitored.”
Still, England said, “If I have to do that to preserve my mental health and stay alive then I’m going to do that.”
Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via chat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.
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