Today, the ‘Evaluation of the Impact of Scottish Government Funding: Gender Identity Healthcare’ report was published. This was an evaluation exercise done by independent researchers to evaluate the impact of the funding given to GICs as part of the ‘NHS gender identity services: strategic action framework 2022-2024’.

The report is very long (175 pages! Although a shorter version is available here) and contains a lot of information about the 4 GICs in Scotland, the improvements they have made through the funding and the many difficulties they still face in providing adequate services to trans and non-binary people who need them.

The evaluation shows that there have been varying levels of success across Scotland at reducing waiting lists and improving the services. While some GICs have managed to cut their waiting times, in some parts of the country waiting times are growing rapidly. This evaluation makes it even more clear to us that the current system of having only 4 GICs in Scotland, especially with Sandyford covering such a huge proportion of the population, is unsustainable.

The evaluation confirms that while some progress has been made, the funding and wider strategic action framework has fallen short of its aim to ‘transform’ gender identity services in Scotland. We will take more time over the coming weeks to read and digest the report in detail, but here are our initial thoughts on what next steps we will be taking:

• We will engage with the Scottish Government about the clear and urgent ongoing need to support and transform these services, including the need for long term core funding
• We will urge the Scottish Government to offer as much support as possible to NHS Education for Scotland, who are developing training for GIC staff, to ensure that the number of staff working in these services can increase rapidly
• We will engage with health boards that do not provide gender identity services and make clear the need for them to take an active role in meeting the health needs of trans and non-binary people residing in their health board