 Hi everyone, my name is Claire Carmichael, I'm a general practice nurse in the Hampshire area and I am today talking all about transgender healthcare, something that's massively missing in the NHS, lots of gaps, lots of discussions to talk about today and I hope this helps you out. And today I've got a really really exciting person coming on to do this vlog with me, his name is George Blake and it's going to be amazing but before we get there I just want to go over the statistics and all the general information about transgender healthcare before we get into that. So what is transgender or slash trans? So trans is somebody that is in the wrong body basically, it's somebody who their gender is different from what they were assigned at birth, so for example someone could be born biologically as a woman and they now want to transition as a man because that's how they feel, that's how they should be, that's the body they should be in if that makes sense. So I'm a very firm believer that we have our body and we have our souls, there's two separate things and I do absolutely this just my personal opinion and someone on TikTok, someone else on TikTok actually called Declan, he describes it as his human suit, so his human suit is not really the suit that he needs to wear and yeah I just thought it was a really good way of explaining it and so I am a cis female so I was born as a female and I am a female that's how I am and the only thing I can even begin to imagine how it must feel like living as a trans person is I had a dream once, I had a dream that I was actually in the wrong body, I had a dream that I was male and I was naked and I was looking down and I just saw everything laying out there and it freaked me out, it freaked me out my dream, it scared me, it terrified me, I didn't know what it was, I was running around in my dream, it was horrible guys but the thing is in that dream I woke up, I'm in the body that I should have been in, I'm happy with my body and trans people they don't get that option, they haven't got that choice sometimes you know especially with the healthcare services that we've got right now and this is why this is really really important to do today. So just some stats for you just to show you the impact of this, so there's an estimate of around half a million transgender people in the UK, there's no official number it's never been done before but luckily 2021 the census, the new census survey that we've all done hopefully is going to bring about that next year when the results come out, hopefully that'll raise more awareness of just how many trans people that are in the UK. So that is a half a million people with only nine gender identity clinics or GICs to see these people, so you can just imagine how long a waiting list is, it is years and years and years, it's not one year, it's not two years, years and it's not good enough. And 41% according to the Stonewall latest survey, 41% of transgender people have suffered hate crime or an incident because of their gender identity. In the same survey 25% of trans people have been made homeless as a result of being transgender, 65% of trans people have been discriminated against because of their gender. A huge 35% of people don't show their true identity out in public because they have a fear of being harassed or targeted as a result, which is really really, no one should go through that. 70% of trans people avoid certain places because they know they'll be targeted if they walk down a certain street or anything like that, again it's not okay. 48% that's nearly half of trans people have admitted that they have attempted suicide as a way out. It's not okay, these stats are not okay, no one should ever feel like that and it just makes me so emotional to think that anybody will ever go through that in their life. Imagine having this fear every single day, it's not okay and that is exactly why this video is so important today to raise awareness and that's why I'm speaking to George today to help make change. Inequalities happen all of the time in healthcare without anyone even realizing it, so things like cancer treatments for example, there's a big postcode lottery, some people get the treatment, some people don't get the treatment, some people are left behind. Other things include things like patients that live in rural areas, they can't access healthcare services, they can't access their GP because they can't travel, they're stuck, they're immobilized in some way, they can't get out and about as they should and that is a massive inequality as well in our healthcare system. However transgender healthcare is not spoken about in our NHS and there is a massive inequality in transgender healthcare. GPs don't tend to share care when they should because they don't fully understand it which is, it's a shame and it shouldn't really be happening and more training, more awareness is definitely needed around this topic but you can't really do much about, however there are things we can do to change this, there are things that can be done to make things a little bit better for a transgender person so that they aren't part of those stats, they aren't part of the discrimination, they aren't part of the suicide rates. Anything we can do is better and this is why I wanted to do this vlog and I hope to God that this just helps you open your mind, open your hearts to transgender healthcare and to change and I hope that with this vlog and hopefully you'll look into a bit more and help make change where you are because that's what's really, really needed in this and I really hope that you take something from this vlog. Hey guys so I'm doing this video as a bit of an introductory to myself so I'm George, I live in the East Midlands within the UK, I'm part of an amazing charity called TMB Connect which are based in Wolverhampton, we do a lot of stuff online, we're on Instagram Tik Tok now so yeah I don't always talk about it more within the chat with Claire so yeah that's just a bit about me really like let's get it going. So just to start us off I have a nice question I think what does trans mean to you or being trans mean to you because obviously I can give you the generic NHS thing but I you know it should come from a person. Trans for me is being proud and trans is beautiful, I don't think people understand the stuff that we go through and this is why I feel it's important to talk about it because you could just meet a trans person and judge them straight away just because they're trans but you don't understand what they have to go through on a day-to-day basis so yeah just for me trans is beautiful it's a struggle and when it can be very hard and be in a very dark place but once you get going it's the best thing ever. So from my own personal perspective of being trans I mean I'm not trans I'm a cis female but to me I see trans as I don't know because I've never it's going to sound weird I don't think I've actually told you this it's going to sound very strange but I've never really seen genders, races, colours anything like growing up it was just like irrelevant to me if that makes sense for example when I was at school you know we had a mixed group but there were many females and so many males and gender just it was irrelevant like I've never sound so strange saying that out loud but in my head it makes sense like I don't see genders or colours or races I just I see a person as a person like just from my own perspective I don't think about anything else the only time I think about that thing is if it's a problem with their health so if they're coming to me with for example I had a guy a few weeks ago that had ripped his testicle and so I had to think about it unfortunately it was just there sorry but I just I just don't see it I just don't I don't know I don't see it so when I do think about trans people now I'm more aware of all the issues and looking at people on TikTok and social media and Instagram and everything I see absolutely trans is beautiful like you said like and I think what makes people beautiful is who they are and what they stand for and the pride that people have and resilience that people have like how strong like people have made it through some crap some crap absolute crap they have fought battles in their brains they've been in dark places they've fought through those thoughts of suicide and they're still standing like you're still standing here today and you're an amazing guy from it and the trans people that I know that have come through all of that and that they stand proud today and they're so strong and so resilient it's just it's so beautiful and amazing to see that someone's gone through that and they're doing so much with their lives to raise awareness and just amazing. The thing is as well like you just said like we're brave and stuff like that but unless we don't see that we just see it as it's our life and this is what we have to do to survive but then like I said if a young kid comes and says I'm trans and your videos inspire me to be me and things like that but that's what I want I want them to see that it will be okay and you'll go through the other side you just need to keep going because it's I can't tell you how easy it is just to give up and that's the easy thing. So my personal experience as a nurse within the NHS to be honest I think I wasn't aware of transgender healthcare issues literally until this last 18 months and that's because going into general practice nursing as a general practice nurse I had a couple of patients who were transgender and they were coming in for their hormone injections and that's when I sort of started to think about things and just wanted to know more information to be honest more training and awareness because I didn't get that as a student nurse and as far as I'm aware online there's not much online for healthcare staff and on transgender issues and I went to one of our doctors and asked for training on the matter and was just sent to an LGBT awareness webinar which wasn't good it's not what I wanted it's not what I asked for and so I just wanted to know more myself so I did a lot of research online I found people on Instagram and TikTok that's how found you obviously on TikTok and there's so many trans people on TikTok as well and I feel like I've learned so much from speaking to people themselves and finding out the issues within our healthcare system and the things that people have to go through was so eye-opening it's ridiculous it's actually ridiculous and yeah so now I'm on a campaign hopefully to make a change out there for transgender people in healthcare and hopefully make it a better place for people and yeah that's my bit and to be honest it's kind of shocking me that you don't get taught anything when you are a student nurse um because there are a lot more trans people out there than I think people realize but you have a lot of trans people that are stealth that don't openly tell people that they're trans or anything and my experience within the NHS is I'm still waiting on the HS list at the GIC um but with the age that I am I've gone private for my hormones and I'm going private for my top surgery and just because I can't wait I know people that have been waiting six years to get that first letter and the NHS actually kills us um we don't we're not classed as a priority at all and that's the sad thing the amount of trans people that end their lives because they cannot wait um which is shocking but then saying that like yeah I think you've mentioned it before in your videos about shared care but I've been quite fortunate that I've gone private for my hormones therapy but I've gone to my GP and they are liaison with gender GP who I'm through so I can get my prescriptions I'll have my blood tests every three months they share my care whereas I know a lot of GPs don't do that which I think is bad I just don't understand it I don't I don't understand it either to be honest I mean it's not it's not hard if if so for instance while we're done the research and I know the legitimate place to go to like and this is why it annoys me because a lot of some trans people as well get testosterone illegally not illegally but they don't go down the right procedures and they could end up doing more harm to their body because they're not having their bloods done every three months to make sure that their testosterone levels okay and that's that that shouldn't be happening and the NHS is meant to be for everybody so why are people going down that route of well I'm going to go and do on the slide because I can't jump through the hoops that need to be done yeah why should we have to jump through hoops if I'm telling you that I'm transgender I'm telling you I'm transgender it's true I absolutely agree with everything that you've just said yeah so anyone that doesn't know about shared care documents I'm going to put the links below in the description for shared care put all the links there to have a look at the NHS was set up as free for all and it should be free for all and if someone I think the waiting list for things like GIC is supposed to be 18 weeks isn't it or something for that but people are just waiting for years years like like you said I know people that have waited five six years to get their first initial appointment like what does someone do in those five six years waking up hating the body that they're in is just I can't even physically imagine how it must feel and GPs some of them aren't the best luckily where I work they're very very good at my surgery and I have seen shared care between patients and the GPs they come to us for their hormones I inject their hormones for them they get the prescription for the hormones and that's the way it should be but yeah anyone that doesn't know what shared care is that the shared care is if someone isn't happy with the NHS service or if someone is waiting longer than that 18 weeks then they can go private and then once they've gone private there has to be that decision made between the GP and the private clinician whoever it is uh to share the care so that you know it's shared care people should be getting free service um but yeah but like like you said with your hormones so once that private fact that private sector um prescribes the hormones or whatever that they're going to do prescribe um then it would go back to the GP and then the GP should be prescribing it on the say so of that other healthcare professional because they're not just anybody like it's not a guy down the back street it's always a doctor that's registered doctor registered nurse these are healthcare professionals that have had advice from endocrine the endocrine consultants and things like that to be able to prescribe this this isn't just anybody so it baffles me why some GPs don't share the care because it's not a dodgy weird thing that's happening like a down the back street exactly and like I said before if I've done the research and I've done all the stuff that a doctor should be doing and I've brought that to them for them to turn around and say no is like why yeah that's it and it's because they don't understand that's what it is they don't understand they've never dealt with that before there is no training um although my friend shared with me that there is training for transgender healthcare for people that work at the gender identity clinics so there is training out there but they need to make it for everybody like that it should be absolutely yeah it should be every GP every nurse every healthcare assistant every phlebotomist that's going to take your blood everybody should be in the know about it and they should have that training so that they can deliver the care that they should be discrimination if they don't because if someone come in with I don't know this really rare super rare condition and they've gone to let's say a private consultant and this private consultant said yet this person needs this medication the GP doesn't really know but actually it's okay it's a rare condition this consultant said that they can have this medication and they'll just prescribe it so why is it any different for transgender people is it good to go on a run sometimes because like I've had enough I think every trans person's had enough we're a minority we are a minority yeah yeah that's it um like I said like at the start of the video I've done some stats which you haven't seen um and there's only like an estimate of about half a million trans people and there's only nine GIC clinics gender identity clinics for half a million people is it insane it's ridiculous like where are all these people gonna go exactly they need to either make more or like I don't know if they would make more and this is the problem all down to funding where the costs are supposed to be going it's always about money at the end of the day staffing but then they go on about mental health and stuff like that but that affects a trans person you're told no yeah you can't be who you're meant to be it's not fair it's not fair and it does all come down to training and awareness and and to be honest maybe they just don't know some of them maybe they just don't realize because it's not something they've learned it's not something they've been taught it's not something they've been brought up with but I feel like probably the last couple of years it's got bigger hasn't it a lot more awareness out there now especially with your charity that the stuff you're doing with tnb yeah and that's what it's all about is promoting it or like we want our voices heard and we want to educate people we haven't got a like if somebody says to me I don't offend you but I've got a question and I will happily answer questions because I want people to know it should be spoken about it's but I suppose some people are scared of the unknown we're not any different we still bleed the same oh no it's still human being at the end of the day not some sort of weird alien exactly it's just unfortunate we were born in the wrong bodies that's it so do you want to talk about your the stuff you do for tnb and what they do and stuff like that yeah so um tnb connects for the trans and non-binary community we are a non-profit charity and we do pop up events we give out free clothing we're we're basically here just to help you we understand the struggle a lot of us are from the lgbtq plus community and we just want to empower people and help them have a voice keep talking about it we should be talking about these issues within the trans and non-binary community um so yeah we've got we've got an instagram we've got a natural website we're on tiktok now um i would say like tiktok is a very good platform for the trans community to express themselves and have their voices heard um there has been some instance where tiktok has been transphobic but that doesn't stop us from from talking about issues they need to be spoken about and just to let people know that we're here we're like a lot of people now quite lucky that when i say i'm transgender they're like well and this is what i want a lot of the trans youth to be like i can be that person i know i'm that person but they need things put in place for them and this is why i'll always fight the corner because i don't want them to go through things that i've gone through because it's not nice i think i've mentioned it before like seeing things on the tv the l-word i used to watch the l-word and the first representation of a trans man was max and the way they portrayed that was an aggressive trans man because of his hormones now i want to stop throwing on my aggressive but when you're seeing that when you're young things like that get embedded into you and you think oh well i don't want to be like that um but now like there's a lot more trans people on the tv you've got i think you've got something there's somebody in emmerdale i don't know his name don't watch emmerdale and it's nice to see familiar faces that are making a difference and and doing what they want it to do and it doesn't their transness doesn't stop them like i'm proud of who i am i'm proud to be trans but there's more to be there than being trans and that and that's what it's about and tmb just want to to help as much as we can really like your mental health is so important and like i said when you get told no no no no it can get to you so if we can we will help as much as we can awesome thank you okay so just for the purpose of some of the viewers so we've got a lot of student nurses that watch this vlog we've got qualified nurses as well that watch this vlog and other people just find them watch my vlogs so but it is mainly student nurses um so for those people that don't know much about transgender healthcare and the journey or that transition process what people go through do you feel comfortable just explaining your journey like from when you sort of came out I suppose to your transition and like a timeline of the process that you have to go through yeah that's fine um so i've known from a very young age um that i was in the wrong body but it's one of those things that you don't want to admit um but it got to the point i hit 30 and i was miserable and i thought if i don't do something i won't be here um so i came out 30 and went to the doctors i mean i can't fault the doctors they were like right we've got these g ic's there's two that you can pick from that are closest to you i said there i've been waiting time with that long i was like okay excited and i'm still waiting for the g ic two years down line and say i was laughing because i was like not going to take that long that's what you think i knew it would take a while but i didn't think like i said previously i've got a friend who's waited six years for us i was like um and i just i knew this was my new life and i had a chance to start fresh as me um but like i said i couldn't fault the doctor that i told and she did look confused and she was like i've never come across anyone transgender and i was like well now it's your time because you don't expect that you expect them to see anybody um but she the surgery i was out i can't fault them they work they did the research family g ic's to get me registered um but like i said i knew i didn't have the time so i i saved up and went private but one of the first things i did was i wanted them to change my name on the system um like my preferred name which they did eventually but i can't stress to you how bad it is when they call your dead name now if you haven't got your default as proof like it makes you feel sick because you don't want to be associated with that name anymore um so i i feel if somebody comes to you and say this is my name use it because it actually makes their life a lot easier um so yeah i i i got referred to um and then i decided to go through gender gp which is a private sector and they got back to me within a couple of months i did my stuff online with them and the good thing about gender gp is that it's all through skype and emails and things like that so you don't actually have to physically go out which can cause people to get anxiety um so yeah that was all done by skype and i got the all clear to start my my treatment which i was buzzing about um so yeah i year on t i did actually query the g ic that i'm with if i could possibly get pushed to get top surgery as i've always started hormones and they said no because i've got to wait for my first consult and with them which is another thing i'm i'm paying out for now so it's just yeah that's just that's a bit on my plan my journey really i'll just if you are anybody who's transgender that is watching this i just don't want you to give up because you will get there i honestly didn't think i'd be here um but i'm so glad i carry on because it's i am actually in my best life and yeah you you're saying about calling out dead names to fight that um just remind me of a young trans i think i did i tell you about this before young trans lads that i had he's so young he's about 15 i think i say he's so young he was 15 but he looked about 12 like he was so he just looked so like i just wanted to pick him up and just protect him um but on the computer system it said oh preferred name such and such confidentiality reasons i'll say dave today so preferred name dave okay um and i said okay then so uh like where i work we have like a little tannoyed system so we just pick up the phone and we announce the names over the thing and say come down to the treatment room so i picked up the tannoy I said oh can dave so and so come down to the treatment room please um and he come in with his mom and his mom was just so lovely and so supportive of him and she as soon as she walks through the door she was like oh my god thank you so much for calling my son dave she said no one ever does it and it just means so much to me that you've called him as he wants to be and i was just like and just to see like how much it meant to someone it was just it was so nice it's just that little thing it just shows that you respect me as a person and i need i could up like that person could be having the worst day ever but that one person respects what they want to be called and it's like that's me and you can change it out completely that's it and i think it was that moment that i realized actually this really means a lot to some people like just the small things can make a massive difference to someone's life yeah like i even get excited now when i get called sir or mister athlete oh yeah do you know what it is to some people it's a stupid thing but to a trans person it's a lot because that's all we've ever known ourselves to be and the fact that we are coming across as that it's just like you see me as me yeah that's it it is a lot harder doing it wrong when you're pre-t like that's hard it's really hard that's why i'm saying if you are pre-t just hold on like you will get there i want to do so many things like once i've got top surgery out the way i want to do fundraisers and help people get their top surgery and things like that but i want to put into the community and like that's what tmb is about as well we want to help as many people as we can like we do things like give free clave now we know it's how expensive it is to get new clave when you come out trans you've got to change the wardrobe and everything is so expensive yes it's such a good charity like i love it i've not been biased or anything but it's just it's refreshing to be with a charity like they're trying to do something yeah it's an amazing change gonna make a change exactly so for the final piece of the video do you want to share any advice that you can give to healthcare staff or student nurses to help out the trans community when if they if they have a patient that is trans does that make sense just be respectful like if i come to and say i'm joe blogs and that's my name that's my name and also when you find out somebody's is trans don't look at them any different we're not we're not aliens later we're not aliens we're just people that are trying to live our lives from day to day like we get judged so much and when you go to the doctors or whatever that's meant to be a safe space regardless so just be respectful and treat us like anybody else decent like a decent human being i think that's i think that is the main thing yeah and it's part of like our nmc code i don't know if you know much about our code but our nmc code is like our bible is what we follow as a nurse and in there it says that we have to be respectful all of our patients treat everyone equally dignity and non-judgmental in any situation so and something we're taught as student nurses actually as well is get someone's preferred name so you always say to your patient you know mr george Blake what is your preferred name what would you like to be called and then that's what we call them and it's just so it shouldn't be any different for a trans person doesn't matter who you are shouldn't be changed and that's the thing and like being a trans man as well like they're dreaded when you have to go for a smear test that's still like a certain thing that we have to go through make them feel comfortable like i don't understand that it is going to be hard for you but the way i look at it is like we still have parts that we shouldn't have but we need to look after whatever we've got at the minute because it's not going to be there forever just make that person feel at ease don't look at her like yeah that's true because it is hard yeah actually you're saying that um Seb who is another trans guy did a really good blog post on cervical screening as a trans man and yeah i'll post a link below for everyone else to read it but that was really good really interesting actually to read that and the advice that he gave as well was really helpful also just like if you're unsure as well just do some research about it yeah like i don't like yeah talk to people like some of us like mine talking about it but you'll get some especially like the younger ones i don't want to talk about it i mean i'm old enough and ugly enough now i don't care i will tell you how it is um and and that's what i do like on my tiktoks and stuff and i do a page with toby like goby bears it's a safe place for the trans community yeah to express yourselves just be yourselves like don't let anyone put you into a box and like i hate even the fact that we have to have these labels and say oh i'm transgender and stuff i'm just me just a person trans is just a part of me so yeah it's true it's just all about respect in the day definitely we all believe the same yeah and i would give that advice to anyone as well just always respect your patients and use the preferred name like you said um just do what you want for people like don't treat anyone different like it doesn't matter who they are whoever's walking into your room you just treat everyone the same exactly good because isn't it like if you when you go to the doctors it's a nerve wracking experience anyway even i get nervous i hate going to my doctor exactly but then like if you've got to go in and like you're about to come out as trans to them to tell them who you actually are i i'll never forget at that moment because it stayed with you because that's the top that's the the initial point of i'm changing my life now so if you have a bad experience from that point that's the point that's going to stick with you for a while for a very long time and i feel like if you the NHS can accommodate that and make that person feel at ease it makes everything else a little bit better that's true so just going to backtrack for a second have you ever experienced poor care like being a trans man or have you always had good experiences um to be fair i've had pretty good experience um if i feel like things haven't gone away that i think it should i'll be very quick to say something like i said i'm old enough i don't care i'll say how it is because i know that i'm meant to be getting treated a certain way and if they're not then i'll tell them um but then i know a lot of people won't stand up to that and that and that's another issue don't be afraid to challenge somebody that way i'm george i'm telling you i'm george this is my name use it and be respectful it's not it's not me having to go with them but it is in a way because if i'm telling you something you're the professional it's not me yeah it's true and any good healthcare professional will stop and listen and change they should they should they should um but yeah i haven't had any real negative stuff when it comes the only negative thing is obviously the weightiness within a gyc but unfortunately we can't change anything about that just yeah no that's it i feel like i'm more focused needs to be put on that as well because there's so many people dying because they just can't wait that's it i can't tell you how bad it is waking up every day in their own body it is a horrible thing it must be yeah can't yeah i can't even imagine it to be honest and it's okay for some people like people you know botox is massive at the minute you know they don't like the lines on the face they'll get botox it's an easy fix for some people isn't it they want a tattoo they'll just get a tattoo like i started having tattoos i didn't like my arms but that's something i can do about it but then when you're trying to physically change your body and that's going to be hard yeah and like as stupid as it seems like people say why do you want to be on testosterone and stuff like that because you know that's what we use mental health like when i first started getting facial hair that you you kind of feel euphoric about it because you're like oh i've got a bit of stubble like it's what you've always wanted but my dad said why do you want a barefoot because it's the pain in the butt and i was like because i've wanted it i've wanted it for so long since i can't remember is that like i suppose it's like in a stereotypical it's like a stereotypical thing like a man grows a beard it's just a spot man isn't it yeah but then i'd also also say to anyone transit who is watching us don't conform to things like like mannerisms and stuff of a male like i can be campers anything i don't care like i can don't feel like you need to walk a certain way or think oh is my walk too feminine because i thought like that yeah but now i'm to the point of this is me if you can't accept me for me then don't be in my life yeah exactly that just manage to have positive people if anyone's negative even close friends family i know it's hard with family if they cannot support you then you don't need them in your life you will find family of like i found people on tiktok that i can relate to i'll find my best friend toby he's the person i thought i did i didn't know that needed like to share the same experiences that we've both been going through to having someone that understands is important and it should show you're not on your own yeah and everyone needs that person i think in their life as well definitely he's my little bear he's your little bear anyone know it doesn't know i'm big but he's a little bit yeah i'm gonna put the link below so you can see what this is all about guys don't check it out it's amazing yeah but that's what we want to make it positive i feel that trans community get a lot of backlash and a lot of negative stuff right now but we're not like we are people that are trying to make a difference granted some people in the trans community go by things right the wrong way yeah but there's a lot of us that are trying to do things the right way and try and outweigh the negative because we're just human we're not all of us are aggressive not all of us are assholes if you are then that's just part of you isn't it it's nothing else yeah exactly that just because you're also it's got nothing to do with the fact that you're transgender it just made you probably an asshole before so true though but that's the thing as soon as they see a negative person they find out they're trans i go right that's because they're transgender that's not no so thank you george again for coming and doing this vlog it's so important and it's been amazing so thank you so much and if anyone wants any more vlogs if they want to know more if they want more details anything like that drop a comment below and we can do some more videos for you also go follow george on social media gonna put all the details below obviously his inbox is always open for anybody and yeah just have a great day bye