Mike Nesbitt defends funding boost for gender identity services | UK News

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has defended his decision to allocate more than £800,000 to gender identity services in Northern Ireland.

His department announced the move last month, but it has faced criticism from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) as well as some Ulster Unionist assembly members.

The Belfast Health Trust runs the Brackenburn Clinic, based in south Belfast, which has a service for adults experiencing gender dysphoria. There is also a separate service for young people.

The trust said there were currently 1,163 adults on the waiting list, as well as 45 children and young people on a separate waiting list.

Nesbitt said the adult and youth services were being amalgamated to ensure those seeking help did not find themselves on a “waiting list cliff edge” when they turn 18.

He said the decision to put extra funding into the services came because he wanted Northern Ireland to be part of the UK-wide ban on puberty blockers.

Puberty blockers work by suppressing the release of hormones and can be prescribed to children questioning their gender.

Last year, the government tightened the rules on the drugs, with the Stormont Executive supporting an indefinite ban in December.

“It was made clear to me this would not happen unless we put some money to revive the gender identity clinic, which was basically lying dormant through a lack of funding,” added the minister.

He cited concerns over people accessing the drugs through “international providers” that the Department of Health had “no control” over, as the gender identity service was not up and running.

“There is an example of a doctor who is Spanish working out of Romania, prescribing through Singapore – we have no control over the safety of that operation so that’s why we decided to put some money into the gender identity service,” he said.

The minister said gender identity services had started in Northern Ireland in 2014, and that the clinic would put a “huge emphasis on psychological and psychiatric help”.

Currently, the longest wait for an adult to be seen at the clinic is more than seven years.

The trust said it wanted to sincerely apologise to those affected by delays, which it put down to an “insufficient workforce due to the absence of a commissioned service and workforce recruitment challenges”.

“Demand for the service has also increased significantly over recent years. We fully accept that the waiting time for gender services is unacceptable and not in keeping with the waiting time directive,” a statement added.

The Rainbow Project said it “cautiously welcomed” the investment into the clinic, but that the department needed to ensure a high quality of care for those accessing services.

But TUV assembly member Timothy Gaston called for it to be withdrawn and is set to submit a public petition on the issue to the assembly next month.

The DUP assembly member, Diane Dodds, said the decision reflected “misplaced priorities at a time when our health service is in crisis”.

Confirming a report in the News Letter that a five-year-old child had been accepted as a patient to the service, Nesbitt said he was still “asking questions about what had happened there”.

“I’m also still asking questions about who knew what in terms of ministers over the years, it is really important we are clear about what this service does and does not do,” he added.

People in Northern Ireland can change their legal gender under the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) 2005.

However, they need to be at least 18 years old and provide two medical reports, one from a specialist detailing their diagnosis of gender dysphoria and another listing any treatment or surgery they may have had to change their sexual characteristics.

They also must prove they have lived full-time in their acquired gender for at least two years and have to apply to a UK gender recognition panel.

Last month, the Equality Commission said it would seek a declaration from the High Court to address “uncertainties” over how to apply the UK Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman in Northern Ireland.