[Solidarity Post] TRANSGRESS THE NGS: tell the NGS to stop gatekeeping trans healthcare!

From their action:
It’s time for us to transgress the boundaries the National Gender Service has built to prevent access to trans healthcare in Ireland. We are calling on the community to join us for a phone and email picket of the NGS to demand their public commitment to stop advising GPs against providing blood tests and prescribing HRT to trans patients.

Throughout this week (8-12 May) between 9am and 5pm, we need you to:

☎️ CALL the NGS at 01 211 5045
✉️ EMAIL the NGS at [email protected]
📃 SCRIPT linked in our bio & story

The NGS intimidates GPs into denying blood testing and prescriptions of gender-affirming hormone therapy to support their trans patients. Yet what alternative does the NGS provide? A decade-long waiting list to access a psychiatric model of care rife with invasive, damaging evaluations and inadequate treatment. We refuse to accept this.

We will not rest until we have self-determined, informed consent trans healthcare in the community through our local GPs. The NGS will not stand in our way.

Source: Instagram

NGS phone and email picket script

Please try to call first (using the script below) because this is more effective than an email. 
Call 01 211 5045 and ask to talk to any of the following:

• Ian Schneider (chair of the clinical governance committee) 
• Paul Moran (consultant psychiatrist), 
• Karl Neff (clinical lead), 
• Donal O’Shea (consultant endocrinologist) 

If they aren’t available or the receptionist won’t put you through, talk to whoever will listen.

If you are emailing, send the email to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] & [email protected]. Please cc [email protected]
​
Please note, if you are a patient of the NGS you may wish to use a different phone or email address to contact them than the one they have on record.

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Script
​
“Hi,

I’m contacting you to support a campaign being coordinated by Trans Harm Reduction, a trans healthcare group that supports people who are self medicating in Ireland. Trans people in Ireland who wish to undergo medical transition are forced to take matters into their own hands due to the unacceptable standards of trans healthcare in this country, including the interminable waiting list for the NGS.

For those who can afford to and wish to, they have the option to privately pay for their medication, but for many, they are left to self medicate due to financial restrictions or mistrust in both the public and private medical institutions.

Trans people on HRT need to be able to access blood tests through their GPs as a basic safety check. However, we are aware that the NGS has a policy of advising GPs not to carry out these basic blood tests when trans folks in Ireland either self medicate or medicate through private health services. This situation is totally unacceptable. 

Trans people also often ask their GPs to prescribe HRT to them directly. There is no restriction on Irish GPs to do this and it would enable  trans people in Ireland to shift to accessing prescription HRT medications from their local GPs, avoiding waiting periods. We are aware that the NGS also has a policy of advising GPs not to prescribe HRT. We refuse to accept this.

Providing blood tests and prescribing HRT are both entirely within the remit and capabilities of GPs. The NGS’ policy of advising GPs not to provide them is putting trans people at serious risk. 

By preventing access to basic medical care, the NGS are attempting to force trans people onto a decade-long waiting list for their harmful system. The only thing the NGS is doing is stopping trans folks from accessing alternatives to their psychiatric model of care that is rife with invasive, damaging evaluations and inadequate treatment. Trans people should be able to self medicate or seek private alternatives safely if that’s something they wish to do. The NGS must stop interfering with people’s ability to access care through their GP.

We are demanding that the NGS publicly state that it will no longer be advising GPs not to provide blood tests or HRT prescriptions. We want a statement to be made on this by May 21st or we will take further action to ensure our demands are met.

​Regards,”

Source: Trans Harm Reduction