GIST 2025

We had a wonderful couple of days at the Gender Identity Skills Training event in Kilkenny on 5 & 6 March. I was delighted to connect with the 35 other healthcare professionals, experts by experience and community group representatives in attendance. Clinically there was a broad range of experiences and backgrounds, from those still in training to experts with decades of experience in the field of trans healthcare- nationally and internationally.

The event was hosted by the wonderful Dr Vanessa Lacey and I was delighted that we received such positive post-conference feedback from our attendees. Particular praise and appreciation was given to the Transition Stories talk where Dr Vanessa Lacey sensitively navigated a conversation with two young transgender adults and their mothers about their experiences of transitioning in adolescence and up to the current day.

We also had fantastic talks from Dr Thomas Steensma about assessment and outcomes in trans healthcare and Dr Claudia Zitz about how socio-political and legal contexts impact on the clinical work - particularly relevant given the current challenges happening in the USA at the moment. I presented on some early data coming from the Gender Plus clinic in relation to autism and assigned sex ratio data and it’s relevance to patient outcomes.

In addition to the other interesting talks from our speakers there were interactive sections held with ‘Hot Topics’ and clinical case discussions. Hot topics in particular benefitted from the attendance of the HSE National Lead for Trans Healthcare- Dr Karl Neff. He joined Dr Jiska Ristori, Dr Anne Keogh, Dr Aileen Murtagh and myself, Dr Aidan Kelly, for a panel discussion with audience questions on  the development of the new model of care in Ireland*, the Cass Report, how professionals can best support the needs of our trans patients, and how the community as a whole (professional, community groups, and experts by experience) can best work together for the development of trans healthcare in Ireland.

Lastly but by no means least we had Dr Nicola Cantwell presented on Rainbow Pharmacies an innovative project aimed at providing more education to enable pharmacists to deliver inclusive practices, and Dr Nicola Cochrane spoke about her experiences of providing trans inclusive primary care to the trans community.

*Dr Karl Neff shared that the relevant contact email address for stakeholders wishing to contribute to the HSE trans healthcare model development project is ncp.genderprogramme@hse.ie