After years of cuts, coronavirus has placed unprecedented strain on the NHS – all non-urgent resources have been redirected to the frontline battle against the pandemic. One side effect of the redeployment of staff, energy, time and money is that parts of the health service that were struggling pre-COVID now appear broken beyond repair.

Trans healthcare is one of them. In the UK, access has been an increasing nightmare for a patient group already subject to widespread inequality in many areas of life – not least the bitter campaign against Gender Recognition Act reform.

The trans patients I spoke to know that COVID-19 victims and those with other emergency concerns must come first right now, but they are fatigued by years of their needs being systematically devalued and de-prioritised. Things are even worse now – the level of support currently offered is best described as a postcode lottery. Some Gender Identity Clinics (GICs) are offering Zoom appointments. Others have all but shut down. GICs typically serve an entire region. When one, like the Leeds and York Gender Identity Service, has cancelled all diagnostic appointments and ceased offering new ones, many trans people in the north of England are effectively barred from access to care. Read more via VICE