Summary
Doctors checked the records of all 68 trans and gender-minority patients at one Cornish family doctor practice to see how their care compared with guidelines. There was no family doctor guideline to check against, and UK gender clinics and international guidelines gave conflicting advice on doses and check-ups. Judged against a US specialist guideline, up to two-thirds had missed some recommended check-ups. Patients waited an average of 26 months for an NHS gender clinic and had high rates of recorded anxiety, depression and self-harm. Of 41 who had started hormones, eight chose to stop, and five of them had notes recording detransition or regret. The authors call for proper family doctor guidance and larger checks like this. With so few patients, one practice and no talking to patients, the figures are a starting point for questions, not national rates.
Key findings
- Kayıtlı 20.136 hastadan 68'i (100.000'de 337) trans ya da cinsiyet azınlığındaydı: 42'si (%62) trans erkek, 22'si trans kadın ve 4'ü non-binary; ortanca yaş 22'ydi.
- Ruh sağlığı sorunları kayıtlarda yaygındı: %76'sında anksiyete veya depresyon, %54'ünde kendine zarar verme, %10'unda kişilik bozukluğu ve %15'inde otizm. %19'unda çocukluk istismarı, ihmal ya da şiddet kaydı vardı.
- Bir NHS cinsiyet kliniğini bekleyen hastalar ortalama 26 ay beklemişti. Klinik tarafından görülen 48 hastadan 15'i (%31) yalnızca özel olarak görülmüştü ve kendi kendine başvuran 16 kişinin tamamı özel kliniklere gitmişti.
- Aile hekimlerinin karşılaştırma yapabileceği bir kılavuz yoktu; Birleşik Krallık cinsiyet kliniklerinin aile hekimlerine verdiği talimatlar doz, hedef hormon düzeyleri ve kontroller konusunda birbiriyle ve uluslararası kılavuzlarla çelişiyordu.
- ABD'nin uzman hormon kılavuzuyla karşılaştırıldığında, hastaların üçte ikisine varan kısmı önerilen tüm kontrolleri yaptırmamıştı; bunun çoğu nedeni bu çelişkilerdi.
- Hormonlara başlayan 41 hastadan 8'i (%20), ortalama yaklaşık beş yıl sonra bırakmayı seçti. Dört trans erkeğin notlarında detransisyon anlatılıyordu ve bir trans kadının kayıtlarında testislerin alınmasının ardından pişmanlık kaydı vardı.
- İncelenen kılavuzların hiçbiri detransisyon, pişmanlık ya da tedaviyi bırakan hastalara bakım konusunda herhangi bir tavsiye vermiyordu.
Abstract
Primary care must ensure high quality lifelong care is offered to trans and gender minority patients who are known to have poor health and adverse healthcare experiences. This quality improvement project aimed to interrogate and audit the data of trans and gender minority patients in one primary care population in England. A new data collection instrument was created examining pathways of care, assessments and interventions undertaken, monitoring, and complications. General practitioners identified a sample from the patient population and then performed an audit to examine against an established standard of care. No appropriate primary care audit standard was found. There was inconsistency between multiple UK gender identity clinics' (GIC) individual recommended schedules of care and between specialty guidelines. Using an international, secondary care, evidence- informed guideline, it appeared that up to two-thirds of patients did not receive all recommended monitoring standards, largely due to inconsistencies between GIC and international guidance. It is imperative that an evidence-based primary care guideline is devised alongside measurable standards. Given the findings of long waits, high rates of medical complexity, and some undesired treatment outcomes (including a fifth of patients stopping hormones of whom more than half cited regret or detransition experiences), this small but population-based quality improvement approach should be replicated and expanded upon at scale.
Conclusion
These findings complement secondary care-generated knowledge and suggest room for improvement. Gender minority/trans people will be better served by evidence-based primary care guidance, including monitoring and communication standards. Existing guidance is contradictory. Given the findings of long waits for GIC assessment, and some unwanted outcomes and complications (including detransition), this small but hypothesis-generating primary care-focused, population-based, quality improvement approach should be replicated and expanded upon at scale.