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24Feb

Transgender HealthPathways - “a huge leap forward”

Natasha Capon |24 Feb, 2020 | All Articles, Equity |

A set of transgender care pathways has gone live on Canterbury Community HealthPathways, making available vital information on the medical and mental health and surgical care of transgender people.

Canterbury Community HealthPathways offers clinicians locally agreed information to make the right decisions, together with patients, at the point of care. It is designed and written for use during a consultation.

The section on Transgender Health contains information on gender affirming hormones, gender affirming surgery, transgender health in adults, children and youth, and transgender specialised assessment.

The transgender pathway has involved a massive effort from everyone concerned and represents a huge leap forward in equity of health delivery for the transgender community in Canterbury, says Senior Clinical Editor, Canterbury Community HealthPathways, Caroline Ansley.

General Practitioner and Canterbury Initiative Clinical Lead Rebecca Nicholls has shown amazing leadership to bring together and keep together all the key players, says Canterbury DHB Team Leader Canterbury Initiative Erin Wilmshurst.

The Canterbury Clinical Network Child And Youth Workstream identified the need for improvement in gender affirming care, but as the pathways are for transgender people of all ages, it quickly became apparent that improvement needed contribution from across the whole health system.

Rebecca says it was a huge team effort from all the hospital departments involved, and from a group of general practitioners dedicated to improving healthcare for transgender patients and a fantastic group of colleagues and transgender community members who formed a community/clinical group to guide the work.

“It would not have been possible without community input. It’s important to understand that the pathways don’t just represent a guide for clinicians. There are procedures, assessments and care, not previously available in Canterbury, now available for the first time.

“I will continue to work with a community/clinical group for the next couple of years to help the system settle in and to continue to hear feedback from clinicians and the community to continue to improve things.”

You can contact the team on transgender.health@cdhb.health.nz

For more information see Community HealthPathways.

 

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