New TransActual report finds GPs feel "unloved and unsupported" when it comes to trans healthcare

A new report, TransActual Healthcare Professionals Report 2025: UK Healthcare Workers’ Experiences, Confidence and Comfort Supporting Trans Patients, out this week, documents how GPs are feeling "unloved and unsupported" when it comes to trans healthcare.

The report - believed to be the largest in-depth study to date in the UK into this topic - highlights how best practice often relies on healthcare workers seeking training outside the NHS, either at their own expense, or by relying on patients’ own knowledge of their needs.

Thus, over two-thirds of respondents expressed confidence in their ability to assess and interact with trans patients (67%); but fewer than a third were satisfied with the training they had received (31%). This disconnect was particularly marked when it came to prescribing of HRT (hormone therapy), with many GPs unhappy with the lack of support.

Given that responses were likely skewed towards those most supportive of their trans patients, this goes some way to explaining why, in a recent survey, of trans individuals, over half (52%) reported that they had experienced transphobia in a medical setting. Of these 97% stated that this had been (at least in part) due to professionals’ lack of knowledge around trans issues. (Trans Lives Report 2025, due autumn 2025)

It is essential that all GPs – and the wider medical professions - are trained to understand trans people’s healthcare needs

Chay Brown, TransActual Healthcare Director said: “This report highlights how little access there is to high quality training on trans-inclusive care. Too often, trans patients themselves are the only sourceof CPD that GPs have access to, and this needs to change.

“It is essential that all GPs – and the wider medical professions - are trained to understand trans people’s healthcare needs and to offer high quality trans-inclusive care.”

One quick way for medical professionals to access relevant, high quality information on trans-inclusive healthcare is via TransActual’s recently updated Information for Healthcare Professionals resource. This includes links to policies,good practice guidance, and patient information resources from a range of sources, in addition to TransActual’s own resources.

The report is based on an in-depth survey of over 646 medical practitioners, including GPs, nurses, pharmacists, Allied Health Practitioners, and others. It was supported by funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.