Tēnā koutou,

I am writing to request information about the gender-affirming healthcare services provided by the South Canterbury District Health Board. The DHB Gender Reassignment Services Stocktake in October 2015 indicated that the South Canterbury District Health Board previously did not provide gender affirming healthcare services (see the Briefing on GRS attached to this previous request https://fyi.org.nz/request/7586-grs-wait...).

Could you please advise whether the following gender-affirming healthcare services are funded by the South Canterbury District Health Board for transgender patients, and whether the services are currently available:

- Hormone therapy
- Mastectomy
- Hysterectomy
- Orchidectomy
- Facial hair removal
- Breast augmentation
- Voice training

Could you please provide information about the process of accessing those services that are available?

- Specifically, is an assessment by a mental health professional required in order to access gender-affirming healthcare services? If so, which services?
- In the case of hormone therapy, can primary health providers prescribe hormones, or does this have to be initially approved by an endocrinologist?
- Is any period of real life experience required to access surgery?

Finally, could you please advise what the process is if transgender patients require one of the above services, but the South Canterbury District Health Board does not offer this service? Does the South Canterbury District Health Board currently fund patients to travel to other areas to access this healthcare?

If any part of my request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me.

If any of the information that I have requested is unavailable or would be difficult to retrieve, but similar information might be readily available, I would be happy to discuss altering or refining my request.

Ngā mihi,
Gloria Fraser

Kia ora,

I made this request to the South Canterbury DHB on May 23rd regarding gender-affirming healthcare.

I have not yet received a response to my request. Could someone please follow up with this?

Ngā mihi,
Gloria Fraser

Kia ora Teresa,

Thanks for chasing this up! I know it's easy for things to fall through the cracks sometimes :) Looking forward to hearing from you.

Ngā mihi,
Gloria

Kia ora Theresa,

Just checking in on this again - does South Canterbury have a response to my request?

Ngā mihi nui,
Gloria

Kia ora,

Just checking in on this once more - I've made this same request to each of the 20 DHBs and am only waiting on this response. This is part of a research project I'm working on so it's holding up the paper we are writing - if someone could send me a reply next week that would be much appreciated.

Ngā mihi,
Gloria Fraser