We are aware that the time young people have to wait for a first appointment here at GIDS is long. We are working hard to reduce waiting times, including with our commissioners NHS England.

These longer waiting times come after a large increase in the number of referrals to our service over the past few years.

It is not possible to give individual expected wait times in an accurate way. We know that it is frustrating not to have a firm figure for how long you might have to wait, but waiting times can change. We might mislead people if we try to be too precise about future waiting times.

We are currently seeing young people for their first appointment in GIDS who were referred in 2019.

Here are some things that can affect waiting times:

• The length of time we see each young person during their time in GIDS will vary in length, depending on individual circumstances, and can also involve work with other teams local to the young person.
• The number of people not attending appointments, or cancelling at short notice has a big impact on the waiting list and the number of appointments we can offer.
• When we refer young people from GIDS to an adult gender service, it is not easy to say when they will be offered an appointment, and so when their care will be fully transferred.

Because these factors can be hard to predict, the waiting times we give may unfortunately increase over time as well as go down.

For more information, see our advice for parents on how to help your child whilst waiting for input.