photo credit @carnis.saint
We are very excited to announce that we have now officially launched our Trans Health Hub Outreach pathway! This is a very exciting initiative which allows us to partially register TNBI patients so they can access our informed consent model for Hormone Replacement Therapy through WellBN – while staying with their usual GP for all their other health needs.
Our books have been closed for a while to give us a bit of time to figure out what to do about the rising numbers of patients (we have over 33,000 at the moment, including about 1,500 trans patients). This was a difficult decision, as we are very aware of how difficult it is for TNBI patients to access HRT elsewhere. Many patients have been registering at WellBN specifically for this… with the drawback of joining a GP surgery which is very busy and may not be the most accessible from their address.
With the Outreach Pathway, we can provide prescription, monitoring and ongoing management of the HRT regime to patients that are registered at other GP surgeries. It’s open to patients who are looking to access HRT, and patients that are already on HRT but have issues accessing monitoring. Patients who are unsure about wanting to be on HRT and want to access a TNBI-specific holistic health review are also welcome to get in touch. We don’t provide referrals to the GIC, fertility preservation or any other trans-related healthcare. However we can provide advice to other GPs to help with this.
“This service is free, and currently open for patients over 17 years old based in East and West Sussex only. This is due to funding limitations: we do not receive any payment from the NHS for patients outside of this criteria. We are hoping to extend this in 2025! If you are under 17 we may be able to register you as a full patient on a case-by-case basis. You can get in touch with the trans health hub to have a chat with our coordinator by emailing sxicb-bh.transhealthhub@nhs.net. If you are over 17 and out of area, you can register your interest for full registration, or ask to be contacted if we expand the Outreach program by filling this form https://forms.gle/rB95NHMp2ryCm1Pv6
Patients do not need to be referred by their GP. They can self-refer directly by emailing sxicb-bh.transhealthhub@nhs.net. However, we do work collaboratively with GPs: blood tests are done at the patient’s GP surgery, while we provide the blood form and interpret the results. If GPs want to take over the monitoring of their patient’s hormone levels and HRT regime at any point, we are happy to provide support, resources and training for this. We’re hoping this will encourage GPs to get more involved, and generally demystify HRT prescribing and monitoring.
This scheme is also open to Sussex-based patients registered at WellBN who would like to switch to a GP that’s more local to them. If this is your case, don’t hesitate to get in touch for a chat about it, we would be happy to continue to provide HRT once you are registered with your new GP.
During our big TNBI patient teams meeting in April, patients voiced worries about WellBN’s ability to continue providing trans healthcare. With the way that the NHS is currently structured, GPs claim funding for what we provide patients, and we have to cover our functioning costs. The Local Commissioning Service is currently offering generous funding to GPs for trans healthcare – which we are claiming by registering and monitoring outreach patients: The Outreach Pathway is in fact helping us to keep WellBN open!
We’re very aware that we are able to get funds by exploiting a health inequality – and that people should be able to access TNBI health care through their own GPs. But we’re hoping that we are doing this in a way that is safe, caring, and respectful of patient autonomy. As always, if you think we are falling short, you are welcome to get in touch through the feedback form, by emailing sxicb-bh.transhealthhub@nhs.net, or by getting in touch with the Clare Project if you feel you need an intermediary.
If you have any questions about the Outreach Pathways – have a look at our FAQ – or email us!
Love and Solidarity,
WellBN
