This paper will address the ways a specialist clinic that provides gender affirming services tries to address the way it provides care to those on their waitlist. Wait times are longer than 12 months, and this paper reflects on the challenges of delivering care while waiting for an appointment.
Paper long abstract:
Given the dearth of public primary care services providing gender affirming care to Trans, Gender Diverse, and Non-Binary people, the few existing specialist services have long waiting lists. This often means clients put their gender affirming journey on hold, and leads them to think that they cannot affirm their gender until they can receive medical affirmation services. This long waiting period has been identified as worsening people’s co-occurring mental health conditions and causing further stress. This paper will address the complex ways in which a specialist clinic aims to minimise these negative outcomes, while paying attention to the structural constraints of the healthcare system. This will be done through a reflection on my work conducted at the Monash Health Gender Clinic to provide some potential answers to the issue of how the clinic can provide ‘care’ while people wait to receive care services. Given the politicised landscape fraught with misunderstandings regarding the healthcare of Trans, Gender Diverse, and Non-Binary people, it is important to pay attention to how care is delivered, understood, and organised within the healthcare system.