Ireland ranked worst for transgender healthcare in EU

Ireland has the worst healthcare for transgender people among the 27 EU member-states, a European network of more than 200 trans-rights organisations has found.

Transgender Europe (TGEU), which is funded by the EU and campaigns for the “complete depathologlisation of trans and gender-diverse identities” scored member states on six criteria, giving two points for every criterion met, on their provision of trans-specific healthcare.

Out of a potential 12 points, Ireland received just one.

The results, published on a colour-coded map, show Ireland to have the worst provision, just behind Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Greece and far behind Malta, which was found the have the best.

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The six criteria used are the type of trans healthcare and coverage available in the country; whether there is requirement for a psychiatric diagnosis before hormonal treatment or surgery; waiting time for first appointment with a trans healthcare professional; whether groups are excluded or made to wait longer to access trans-specific healthcare; the youngest age at which puberty blockers may be prescribed; and the youngest age for access to hormones.

Ireland’s single point was achieved for the provision of trans healthcare at all. It scored worst on waiting times, having longer delays than any other country, at between 2½ and 10 years from requesting to see a specialist in trans healthcare to seeing one. In most other states, the wait is less than a year.

“Access to trans specific healthcare varies widely in the EU,” said TGEU. “For instance, Malta has implemented a model of healthcare that is grounded in self-determination and based on informed consent.

“In contrast, many countries still require a psychiatric diagnosis to access trans specific healthcare. In Ireland, the system is bogged down by waiting times of over seven years to see a healthcare professional.”

It says the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine had had “alarming impacts” on access to essential medication and hormones for trans people.

“At the same time, the need for trans specific healthcare and the very existence of trans identities are also facing growing attacks from anti-gender and anti-rights groups. This constitutes a real threat to the delivery of accessible, affordable, and quality depathologised trans specific healthcare and risks undoing the decades of progress that the community has fought hard to achieve.”

Though there have been “important strides forward”, it says “there is much more to be done in the EU member states. Trans identities are no longer pathologised and being trans is not a psychiatric condition.

“Trans-specific healthcare in the EU member states need to urgently reflect this and must transition to processes based entirely on informed consent, and ensure that it is equitable and accessible by individuals who are further marginalised by racism, poverty, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, ageism, and other forms of oppression.”