Currently (Nov, 2013) TSof NZ is working with ADHB on hopefully getting a multi disciplinary team up and running for the wider Auckland area and hopefully this will then be a model used for Transsexual health care, NZ wide.

Dialogue follows suspended trans health clinic

By GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 8th October 2013

 

 

 

Auckland District Health Board is pledging to lead a regional discussion about the provision of trans health services, and is promising trans people will be included in the conversation.

 

It follows Auckland Sexual Health Service (ASHS) announcing the suspension of its Trans Clinic, which means while it will continue to manage current patients, it can no longer take new referrals.

The Service explained this is because it does not have enough Consultants to keep up with demand. However it says the Ministry of Health has also made it clear that resources need to go to other areas of sexual health management, if ASHS is to be "successful" in the next round of funding.

One insider has compared the situation to being held to ransom by the Ministry.

Auckland Sexual Health Service has been the main provider of trans care in Auckland for over 15 years.

In a new statement, Auckland District Health Board’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Margaret Wilsher says there were gaps in the way care was being provided to trans patients and there is a need for a more comprehensive, integrated service.

“The first step is for us is to initiate a discussion with the other DHBs in the Northern Region to ascertain whether they also feel there is a need for a regional service,” Dr Wilsher says.

“In concert with those discussions, we will also engage the Ministry of Health to ensure our approach in the Northern Region is aligned with that of other regions.

“Once we have clarity on that, I would expect that in the New Year we can begin drawing on international evidence about the best models of care. That will inform our options for service design.

“However, I am very clear that these discussions will need to include the trans communities. This has to be a partnership approach and we are very genuine about working together to get the best outcomes.”

Dr Wilsher says the issue of access to breast reduction surgery for FtM patients will also be part of the discussion, following an announcement from an Auckland surgeon that he will no longer be able to provide ‘top surgery’. He was the only Auckland surgeon providing the surgery under the public health system.

“At the moment, we do not have a joined-up pathway and we need to try to overcome that,” Dr Wilsher says. “I know members of our trans communities feel their specific needs have been neglected and I can appreciate why they feel this way.

“By working in partnership, we have the best chance of finally having issues around access to healthcare services addressed in a sustainable way.”

The pledge from the DHB follows a meeting Auckland transsexual women Racheal McGonigal and Roxanne Henare held with Dr Wilsher and another DHB representative, Sue Waters, yesterday.

McGonigal says they are happy with the result of the meeting, which was open and honest.

“ADHB, through structural changes, acknowledged they had let things to do with gender services go off the boil, but both Margaret and Sue clearly showed they wanted to get it going and back on track again,” she says.

“All up I think Roxanne and I both left feeling there was a definite willingness from ADHB to provide specific services to the TG/TS community. A willingness to communicate with us.

“They may not be able to provide everything we want but they certainly seem like they wish to provide as much as possible and later on this may see a roll out in other DHBs, once they identify where the needs are.

“They definitely recognise Transsexuals and others under the Transgender Umbrella and a need for specific services. We also let them know we will definitely be following up and maintaining the contact.”

McGonigal has also written to the Health Minister to express her concern about the situation.

 

09/09/2012 "Transsexual backs law change"

Stuff.co.nz

 

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SEEKS CHANGE: Transexual Stephanie Dixon.

Stephanie Dixon looks like a woman, talks like a woman and walks like a woman.

She has breasts and female genitalia, but when she had to provide her birth certificate as proof of identification when signing up for a beauty technician's course, it said she was a male.

The 43-year-old, who had gender reassignment surgery and breast augmentation, is attempting to change that and has a Family Court declaration to say she can.

However, the process has stalled because Dixon is still technically married to the mother of her children, and same-sex marriage in New Zealand isn't legal. Louisa Wall's Marriage Equality Bill would change that. The bill would allow for transsexuals to marry in their chosen sex or stay married in their chosen sex.

Dixon knows she's not the only one in her predicament who would benefit if the bill was adopted into law.

For her, having the sex changed on her birth certificate is the “final straw”.

“My birth certificate doesn't show who I am and I know I am not the only one in this position. So why is it that when someone has an operation they have to stay in their past gender when it doesn't represent who they are,” said the Christchurch beautician and mother-of-two.

Having to apply to the Family Court to have it changed is “not something you choose to go through and it's not something you want to go through”.

She also doesn't want to go through the pain of having to explain to people why her birth certificate reads “male” when “I don't look that way, I don't act that way and, in some circles, they don't even know.

“It puts you in these situations where you have to explain what's happened and what's going on and really it need not be."

A 2008 Family Court decision set a precedent, when it clarified that a person did not have to have full gender reassignment surgery to have their sex changed on their birth certificate.

Transsexuals have to apply to the Family Court to have their gender changed on their birth certificate, which falls under the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995. Section 30(2) of that act would have to be altered as a consequence of Wall's bill.

In the four years since the 2008 court decision, 58 people have been successful through the courts, compared to 37 in the four years prior. Over the past eight years, 14 people have had their applications dismissed, withdrawn or struck out.

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Family Court judge A J Fitzgerald said in his decision that full gender reassignment surgery was unachievable for many transsexuals because of the costly expense or for medical reasons.

The 2008 case clarified the process and it is clear that it is now based on a case-to-case basis, but applicants do have to show that they are taking steps or have taken steps to transition, including hormone replacement therapy or gender reassignment surgery, and have a supporting letter from a psychiatrist.

Aucklander Racheal McGonigal, who has had gender reassignment surgery and her birth certificate changed, says some of her peers believe that the court process should be made easier, but she believes the current process shows a commitment.

“A lot of transsexuals want to hide their past, but you've got to be realistic. You can't change your past,” she says.

Following a Family Court declaration, any government agency with an interest in ensuring that people should not have more than one legal identity, such as Corrections, may be notified.

So what happens when a transsexual is convicted and sent to jail? There are a handful of transsexuals currently in prison and Corrections Services director of offender health Bronwyn Donaldson says their safety is paramount.