Contrary to NHS guidelines, which recommend eighteen weeks from referral by GPs for a first appointment, as of June 2019, British gender identity clinics were telling trans patients that they had to wait at least two years. The Laurels, the Exeter-based gender clinic for the south-west of England, said it had nearly 2,000 people on its waiting list; this means a patient could expect to wait up to three years for a first appointment. The pandemic lockdowns have only intensified this catastrophic backlog.
