The number of adults in the U.K. being treated for gender dysphoria on the NHS has risen 75% in five years, and many patients are being given oestrogen, a drug that is in very short supply amidst a nationwide shortage of drugs for hormone replacement therapy, of which oestrogen is the most popular. MailOnline has the story.
Latest figures for 2021 show more than 11,000 patients received care for the condition that causes sufferers to feel they were born the wrong gender.
This is 74% more compared to the 6,371 patients being treated in 2016.
A gender dysphoria diagnosis is the first step to getting prescribed cross-sex hormone therapies that help trans people develop the characteristics of their preferred gender.
It comes amid a nationwide shortage of hormone replacement therapy which is also used to help alleviate the symptoms of the mesopause.
Around 1,600 trans patients were prescribed the female hormone oestrogen in 2021, the most popular HRT drug that is most short in stock.
However, the total figure is believed to be higher because data is only available for four out of the 12 of the gender clinics that provided information to MailOnline.
A current HRT shortage has left menopausal women rationing doses, trading supplies in car parks or turning to the black market.
MailOnline complied the data on gender dysphoria based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to 12 NHS gender clinics in the U.K.
Of these, 11 provided data on their patient numbers stretching back to 2016, or to when they first opened.
Only four of the services were able to provide the number of patients prescribed oestrogen as part of their treatment, meaning the total is likely higher.
Overall there were 11,085 gender dysphoria patients being treated in 2021/22, compared to 6,371 in 2016/17.
Of the 2021 patients 1,592 were prescribed oestrogen.
