Today at about 1pm the #NUSConference will be voting on #motion705 for the creation of a Full Time Trans Officer. This has taken years of fighting for to get this far, and would make a really distinct impact on the lives of trans and non-binary students.

Are you on twitter? Please voice your support and ask people to VOTE YES using the #NUSConference and #motion705 hashtags! Student or ex-student? Tell them what it would mean or would have meant to you! Tweets are needed all morning, but ESPECIALLY between 12.30 and 1pm

Further reading:
1) http://transformnus.tumblr.com/
2) https://noorulannshahid.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/why-im-asking-nus-national-conference-2015-to-vote-for-a-full-time-trans-officer/
3) https://managingeffectively.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/supporting-the-motion-for-nus-to-have-a-full-time-paid-trans-officer-dont-coopt-my-disabled-voice/

Last week GenderJam NI met with Knowing Our Identity (KOI), the Gender Identity Development Service for Northern Ireland, which is a service commissioned through Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services. They asked several questions about the processes there, which give a useful insight into how the service works

A campaign has been launched to get a national full time trans officer at the National Unision of Students (NUS). This will be voted on at their National Conference as Motion 705: ‘Creation a Full Time Paid Trans Officer’.

More information - http://transformnus.tumblr.com/

The latest surgical waiting list statistics for Charing Cross have been released. 

As of the end of March 2015:

• There are 395 people on the waiting list.
  
• 24 people have been approved for their operation and given a date
  
• 87 people have been approved for their operation and are awaiting a date
  
• 38 people are ‘on hold’ as they are not yet fit for surgery
  
• 243 people are waiting for an initial consultation with the consultant
  
• 3 patients left the waiting list without surgery (these include patients who have been discharged back for not attending their appointments or who no longer wish to proceed with surgery)
  
• The average waiting time is 72 weeks. This includes delays for hair removal/delays due to the patient being unfit for surgery.
  

During March 2015:

• 6 people had surgery (3 procedures were performed by Phil Thomas and 3 by Tina Rashid)
• 7 pre-operative assessments were carried out We received 12 new referrals
• 3 Imperial patients were treated by a private provider (Parkside)
  

Our latest report on Current Waiting Times & Patient Population
For NHS England Gender Identity Services has been published. This report covers November 2014 to January 2015 and looks at waiting times for English GICs as well as surgical providers.

In addition to our normal report on initial waiting times, in this report we have also looked at the amount of time it takes between the first and second appointment, and also at the overall initial assessment process.

The report is available at: https://uktransinfo.org/waitingtimes

Nick Clegg has done a Q&A for Pink News. Amongst his answers was:

Q- The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is over ten years old now. Would the Lib Dems pledge to support a full review of the Act, with a view to bringing the UK in line with the recent Statement on Identity Recognition issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)?
A- There is a lot more we need to do to improve the lives of transgender people. The community is becoming more and more visible and confident – the Trans Pride event in Brighton this year was a great example of that – but there are still too many transgender people who are marginalised and victims of real prejudice.
We therefore do support changes to the Gender Recognition Act. Liberal Democrats would end the “spousal veto” and allow couples where one partner has transitioned to reinstate their marriages. We would also allow ‘X’ (unspecified) gender markers on UK passports – it is not for the state to force people into an identity they do not want or recognise.

We have obtained the following Gender Identity Services CRG sub group reports from NHS England: 

• Hair Reduction – Colthurst M.J – March 2014 
  
• Voice and Communication Therapy – Greener Dr Helen Marie – April 2014
  

These draft documents were used to inform the draft policy that is currently being consulted on, but do not directly form a part of it. We are still working to obtain the third report, which is on chest surgery.