Improving the integration of care for transgender people

An OU-led research partnership has been awarded £723,000 from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to research the integration of care for transgender people.

The project entitled Before, During and After Adult Gender Identity Specialist Services: Improving the integration of care for trans adults, led by Richard Holti, Professor of Professional Learning in the OU’s Faculty of Business and Law, will begin in March 2019 and run for two years.

The objective is to understand how specialist gender identity services can best work together with other parts of the NHS and the voluntary sector, to shape cost-effective, integrated care for transgender adults. The project will produce guidance material and online educational materials for users, NHS commissioners, NHS and third sector staff.

The project team comprises of OU academics from the OU Health and Wellbeing Priority Research Area, Psychology and Business School, who will collaborate with a range of partners including Northamptonshire Healthcare Partnership Trust, Leeds and York Partnership Trust, LGBT Foundation, Yorkshire MESMAC, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Gender identity Research and Education (GIRES), and Gendered Intelligence.

Professor Holti said “This is a major research initiative to improve health care for trans and gender-questioning adults across the lifespan. This is a diverse group that has often not been well served by the NHS in terms of access to services, or consistency of sympathetic care. Our project brings together key NHS organisations and voluntary sector organisations involved in shaping health and related services for trans adults. We will be exploring current initiatives to improve how specialist gender identity services work with primary care, mental health and other services, and draw out the learning for future initiatives.”

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