Alice Litman had waited nearly three years to discuss transitioning
By Ben Weisz & Hamish Mureddu-Reid
BBC News
The coroner investigating the death of a trans woman said services for transgender people were “underfunded and insufficiently resourced”.
Alice Litman, from Brighton, waited almost three years for gender-affirming healthcare, her inquest in Hove heard.
She took her own life at the age of 20 while on a clinic’s waiting list.
Coroner Sarah Clarke said she would be writing to various NHS bodies to recommend ways of preventing future deaths.
Ms Clarke told Alice’s family she wanted to offer the Surrey Borders Partnership Mental Health Trust and the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic sufficient opportunity to respond before delivering her recommendations in two weeks’ time.
“It seems to me that all of these services are underfunded and insufficiently resourced for the level of need that the society we live in now presents,” she told the court.
‘Failed by the NHS’
Dr Caroline Litman, Alice’s mother, said: “We are pleased with the statement [the coroner] has made about the prevention of future deaths report, because it’s easy to forget that we’re here because our daughter died and we believe that she needn’t have.
“All we can do now if fight for other trans people to be protected.”
She said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the extent of the wait list has finally been acknowledged.”
She added: “My daughter was failed by the NHS and I don’t want other parents to lose their daughter, and for other children to lose their sister, the way that our family has done.”
Image source, Litman family
Alice’s family supported her decision to live as a woman
Alice was referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service in 2019, but was still waiting for an initial assessment when she died on 22 May 2022.
She had been waiting 1,023 days for her first appointment with the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic.
During the inquest the head of the gender identity clinic said the number of trans people in the UK was at a “magnitude” greater than the service had been designed for.
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Alice was referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in 2019, following a suicide attempt. She went on to attempt suicide again later that year.
In March 2020, after Alice had turned 18, she was discharged from mental health services altogether, the court was told on Monday.
Ms Clarke indicated that she would be making further recommendations about the transition between child and adult mental health services, the care offered to trans people by mental health trusts, the long waits for gender affirming healthcare, and the level of care offered to those waiting on those lists.
She said she would not be formally concluding Alice Litman’s inquest on Wednesday, but would deliver a narrative conclusion in two weeks’ time.
A spokeswoman for the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic said: “We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of a patient who was waiting to be seen at our gender identity clinic, and offer our condolences to her loved ones. It would not be appropriate to comment while the inquest is ongoing.”
She said the clinic would issue a further statement after receiving the report from the coroner.
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