The Laurels Exeter Specialist Gender Identity Clinic - Exeter

Alex J.

I’ve been with The Laurels for nearly 8 years now and have received fantastic care. I continue to have regular follow ups to ensure my treatment is right for me and I remain happy with how my transition progresses. They work with me to have phone call appointments rather than face to face due to distance and I have been so lucky to have been supported by the same excellent doctor for the whole time I’ve been seeing them meaning we have good rapport and nothing has been missed by changing doctor to doctor. I couldn’t recommend them more for people in the south.

Pip B.

I have been waiting 8 years for my first appointment. I have nearly lost my life several times in that time period. I have been unable to enjoy my 20s. And I have been unable to follow my career or do anything I'd wanted to, basically wasted my young life on this waiting list. And wasted 20k getting surgery privately, I should never have had to spend that money, or take all this time to save for it, I should have been living my life. I had only just been able to afford that surgery after 8 years this year (2024). And then finally I got an appointment with the laurels end of this year (2024). Typical... I hope this will have been worth the wait to get hormones finally. But I cannot in all faith after all this give a good review even if their services wow me on that first appointment. This wait time is abhorrent and cruel.

RedGladiatrix

Long waits as we all know, but from the level of care I've had now that I'm actually there, I think they're doing their best with very limited resources. And now that I am here, I am and continue to be very very pleased with the help I've gotten. Only reason I'm not rating 5 is, again, the waits.

Gus B.

No communication with patients, can’t keep track of your documents. Don’t respond to you, don’t respond to your GP, won’t respond to your caretaker if applicable.

Freedom of Information Request proved that the extent of these wait times don’t make sense even if this whole place were being run by one part time member of staff.*

Fix it. I know you’re the NHS’s last priority, but too many people are taking their own lives over this.

*Edit: they just emailed me back (miraculous) to spit out the same, impersonal rubbish about lack of resources that they have all over their website. No promises to do better, no updates on my specific wait. I would like to reinforce that I could probably run this whole operation from my garage better than The Laurels does.

cwunchy

I got my referral to the laurels in 2017. The only time I've heard from them is when they called me this year asking if I'd be willing to drop out of their waiting list. I'm now nearly 30 and have lost most of my 20s waiting for them to give me any kind of help. It's been over 6 years.

I understand places are understaffed right now, but this is unacceptable. Do not settle for a referral here. Ask for somewhere else. I really hope they do something to fix their process soon, not everyone is going to be able to hold on as long as I have.

Sophie C.

SERIOUS WARNING
To any and all who consider joining up for gender dysphoria, go elsewhere. I've been on the waiting list for just over 5 years now. they're still seeing people from 2016, and have been from at least a year ago.
Their phone lines are always full, they'll treat you with no respect, and every time you think about the wait times you'll feel like crying.
In 2020 they saw just 2 patients in the entire year. if they kept up at that pace then in order to see everyone on their wait list it would take around 2,000 years.
As it stands right now, it will still take about 150 years.
I will be talking to other gender clinics to see if there's any way I can change clinic without going to the back of the queue. I've basically finished growth and development for the rest of my entire life now. I'll never get to live the life I wished I could.

Ray M.

Just received a telephone call from The Laurels, more than 3 years after my referral. They addressed me with a name I haven't legally had in over 2 years.
I have just spent the last 15 minutes being guilted to move to a different waiting list "because we are too overwhelmed" and they acknowledged it would be *years* on top of my current 3 year wait to even get a first appointment - "if you move to a different service, maybe someone else will get seen quicker"
I have *never* had such a disgusting phone call from the NHS first thing in the morning to admit that they are too incompetent to run a safe service and somehow put the blame on those of us who were referred and have been waiting far in excess of the 18-week target. How about spending time and resources actually tackling the problem rather than calling up and guilt-tripping young people!?

sam W.

IF YOUR GP HAS REFERRED YOU HERE PLEASE REQUEST SOMEWHERE ELSE I was added to the waiting list in Feb 2017 and yet to have an initial assessment where else in the NHS is this accessible? More than 6 years and I’m sure more to come. The best thing you can do for yourself or a family member is seek alternative treatment in terms of going private.