Healthcare for the transgender community: do current gender-specific screening programmes neglect the needs of the transgender patient?

Background – Although statistics indicate that approximately 500,000 transgender people live in the UK, true numbers are unknown, as many people conceal their status due to fears of stigma, victimisation and discrimination. Such fears are relevant to healthcare, as transgender patients report instances of direct and indirect discrimination (Connolly et al, 2025). This can impact a person’s willingness and ability access care, especially services that are not deemed as a priority i.e. screening programmes.

Purpose - This poster examines the experience of transgender patients when accessing gender-specific screening services.

Summary of content –
Studies show that cases of transphobia and discrimination are being experienced in clinical settings. Examples include misgendering by healthcare practitioners and even being refused care or denied services (Coleman et al 2022; McLaughlin et al. 2025). Furthermore, transgender and gender diverse (TGD) patients have reported incidents in which they themselves must educate healthcare practitioners about TGD health.
Gender-affirming heath care is being demonstrated within TGD specific services where holistic, inclusive, and trans-affirmative care is provided. Unfortunately, this is not universally seen within healthcare. For example, amongst the transgender community, screening needs are anatomy driven and patient specific, which leads to complexity in individual screening needs. A key element in NHS screening programmes is the automation of appointment invitations based on a binary gender marker. Consequently, transgender patients may be excluded from necessary screening or receive unnecessary invites, which risks exacerbating gender dysphoria and trauma for the patient. The proposed solution of self-referral may risk reduced engagement with screening services, as studies have shown that invitation-based screening yields better patient engagement. The ideal is ‘anatomy-based’ care, as seen in dedicated transgender clinics, and is a step towards protecting patient dignity (Higgins Trust, 2026).
In addition to providing anatomy-based care, the use of inclusive language and trauma informed communication needs to be prioritised. Steps such as proactively asking patients their correct pronouns and ensuring confidentiality builds trust and prevents further discrimination of an already marginalised group.

References
Coleman, E., Radix, A.E., Bouman, W.P., Brown, G.R., de Vries, A.L.C., Deutsch, M.B., Ettner, R., Fraser, L., Goodman, M., Green, J., Hancock, A.B., Johnson, T.W., Karasic, D.H., Knudson, G.A., Leibowitz, S.F., Meyer-Bahlburg, H.F.L., Monstrey, S.J., Motmans, J., Nahata, L. and Nieder, T.O. (2022) - Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse people, Version 8. - International Journal of Transgender Health, 23(S1), pp.S1–S259. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644.
Connolly, D.J., Meads, C., Wurm, A., Brown, C., Bayliss, J., Oakes-Monger, T.C. and Berner, A.M. (2025). Transphobia in the United Kingdom: a public health crisis. International Journal for Equity in Health, 24(1).
McLaughlin, A.J., Nonoyama, S., Glupe, L. and Bosse, J.D. (2025) - Systemic transphobia and ongoing barriers to healthcare for transgender and nonbinary people: A historical analysis of #TransHealthFail. - PLOS Digital Health, 4(3), p.e0000718. - doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000718.
The Higgins Trust (2026). Clinics and resources for trans and non-binary people. [online] Available at: https://tht.org.uk/sexual-health/trans-people/resources. (Accessed 6/2/26)