Reception: 022 673 7002 admin@genderminorities.com
Database overhaul

Database overhaul

We’re currently overhauling our gender-affirming healthcare provider database, so please bear with us as work on it!

We’re changing from a system where patients recommend their providers, to one where providers register themselves. This means we can ask which services they provide, what kind of transgender competency training they have had, and other things which will help patients to make an informed choice.

As we develop the new system, it might look a bit untidy, but all of the information you see will be up to date. The only providers you will see are those who have registered with our new system – that means the database is about ten times smaller. But rest assured, we are contacting everyone who was on the old database and asking them to register, and we’re confident that it will be better than ever going forward.

If you are a healthcare provider, please register your practice here.

If you are a patient, you can still recommend your provider here, and we will contact them to ask them to register.

You can check at the new database here.

A transgender clinic
Checklist for initiating gender-affirming hormone treatment

Checklist for initiating gender-affirming hormone treatment

This checklist for initiating gender-affirming hormone treatment aligns with New Zealand and international best practice.

PDF – read online or download

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Reference materials

Free webinar for primary health providers – informed consent

Free webinar for primary health providers – informed consent

One of our main focuses in 2022 is advocating for informed consent in gender affirming healthcare. Informed consent is a legal right in all areas of New Zealand healthcare. However, there is a long history of access to transgender healthcare being dependent on diagnoses and psychological assessments. 

Gender Minorities Aotearoa will be delivering a free webinar as part of a series on gender-affirming healthcare for primary healthcare providers, 9th of June 2022.

Our presentation will discuss how to use an informed consent model for prescribing hormones and making surgical referrals, and the ways that the informed consent model is different from diagnostic or “gatekeeping” models. 

While the webinar is for healthcare providers, anyone can attend if they are interested in learning more about informed consent in gender affirming healthcare.

This webinar is funded by the Rainbow Wellbeing Legacy Fund, through Rule Foundation, and will be hosted by Te Ngākau Kahukura. The other webinars in this series will be from PATHA (Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa) and the Counting Ourselves research team. 



Click the link below to find out more and register to attend.

Informed Consent 101 – a 3 minute guide

Informed Consent 101 – a 3 minute guide

Check out our 3 minute video on informed consent in gender affirming healthcare. You can also download this video as a PDF.

To change the speed of this video or see subtitles, use the controls panel in the bottom right corner of the video.

We also want to give a shoutout to AusPATH – you can find their Standards of Care in our health information section here. These standards are some of the best we’ve seen.

While mental health referrals are good and can sit alongside an informed consent process, they should be offered as additional support, and should not be part of getting informed consent.

#TDoV #TDoV2022 #TransDayOfVisibility #TransDayOfVisibility2022 #InformedConsent

Transgender day of visibility 2022

Transgender day of visibility 2022

March 31 is Transgender Day of Visibility, and we’re asking you to bring visibility to trans issues by writing letters to healthcare decision makers.

Your letter could be your opinions, or your own personal experience with gender affirming healthcare – whether your experiences were positive or negative. Personal experiences touch hearts, so speaking about the impact which healthcare struggles or joys had on you and your emotions can be a strategic decision.

A flood of letters from trans people can make a huge difference, going far, far beyond raising visibility.

Context

The government is planning to replace the District Health Board (DHB) system through the Pae Ora healthcare reforms, so now is a great time to raise the profile of trans healthcare. In our Pae Ora Legislation submission, Gender Minorities Aotearoa focused on the current failure of the healthcare system to meet gender affirming healthcare needs. 

You have a legal human right to receive appropriate healthcare, and you have a right to be heard when the government fails to provide it.

For the system to work, there need to be changes at every level: better funding leading to increased capacity to meet the demand without unreasonable surgical requirements, better administration creating better and consistent health pathways and better trained doctors who are not themselves an obstacle to transgender people getting the healthcare we need.

For these sweeping changes to happen, we need Health NZ, and the Ministry of Health, to show strong leadership by first acknowledging the problem and then taking effective action to fix it.

What we want

We call on the government to establish a healthcare system which meets the needs of all trans people. This means a system which acknowledges our rights under the Code of Health and Disability Consumer Rights to access necessary healthcare via informed consent/assumed competence. This also means a system which sustainably provides:

  • Voice therapy/training
  • Permanent hair removal by electrolysis, laser or IPL
  • Chest binding prosthetics (binders)
  • Chest reconstruction (double mastectomy and contouring)
  • Breast augmentation
  • Fertility preservation of both eggs and sperm
  • GnRH puberty suppressants (puberty blockers)
  • Quick and accessible readiness assessments to establish capacity for informed consent (only in situations when they are really needed)
  • A diverse range of hormone therapy options to suit the diverse needs that exist
  • Hysterectomies and oopherectomies
  • Orchiectomies/orchidectomies
  • Clearing the backlog for genital surgery, and a sustainable funding plan
  • Improved access to psychologists and counselors when needed
  • National, standardised pathways that relocate more responsibilities into primary care (GPs)

Where to send your letter

Your letter could be directed to the healthcare officials within the Ministry of Health, or the acting officials of the future Health NZ. It could also be directed to MPs who have more influence over how funding is allocated at the highest level, MPs who are already committed to championing rainbow rights, or MPs who hold a responsibility to speak out on healthcare issues.

Government healthcare officials

Health and Disability Review Transition Unit
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Parliament Buildings
Wellington 6160

Dr Ashley Bloomfield (Ashley.Bloomfield@health.govt.nz)
Ministry of Health
133 Molesworth Street
Thorndon
Wellington 6011

Martin Hefford, acting chief executive of the interim Health NZ – Martin.Hefford@health.govt.nz
Ministry of Health
133 Molesworth Street
Thorndon
Wellington 6011

Members of Parliament

This includes MPs who have influence over the yearly budget, MPs whose portfolios cover healthcare, and MPs who are already supporters and who will be likely to amplify our concerns

Hon Grant Robertson MP (Grant.Robertson@parliament.govt.nz)
Minister of Finance
PO Box 18 888
Parliament Building
Wellington 6160

Hon Ayesha Verrall MP
Associate Minister of Health responsible for Rainbow Health
PO Box 18 888
Parliament Building
Wellington 6160

Hon Andrew Little MP
Minister of Health
PO Box 18 888
Parliament Building
Wellington 6160

Dr Elizabeth Kerekere MP
Green Party spokesperson for Health and Rainbow Communities
PO Box 18 888
Parliament Building
Wellington 6160

Chris Bishop MP
National Party representative for the cross parliamentary rainbow network
PO Box 18 888
Parliament Building
Wellington 6160

Dr Shane Reti MP
National Party spokesperson for Health
PO Box 18 888
Parliament Building
Wellington 6160

Act now for better healthcare - a person waving a transgender flag

#TransgenderDayOfVisibility #TransgenderDayOfVisibility2022 #TDoV #TDoV2022