Tuesday, 16 August 2022

LGBTIQA+ health care

Dr READ (Brunswick) (13:03): Recently a constituent contacted my office concerned about the age gap for gender health services in Melbourne whereby a 16-year-old has been too old to qualify for gender-affirming youth services at the children’s hospital but too young to qualify for the adult service at Monash Health. So I spoke to Monash Health, and I was pleased when they told me that they had planned to change their policies so that 16-year-olds could access this essential health care. I congratulate Monash on making this change to ensure that trans and gender-diverse Victorians of any age can access gender health services.

But while age is no longer a factor, financial resources still are. In Victoria gender-affirming surgery is simply not available in the public system. That means people in need of gender care have to raise considerable funds to access the private system, and the waiting list is long. We know that trans and gender-diverse people are at high risk of negative health outcomes due to the marginalisation they experience, and the Department of Health’s research has found that better access to gender-affirming services would be one of the most important ways to support their health and wellbeing. Victoria urgently needs to develop these services, and I encourage them to work with the college of surgeons to ensure that we have enough doctors with experience and knowledge in this field. I urge the government to start this now to support the many Victorians waiting for this necessary care.