• The family of Alice Litman said she “couldn’t tolerate” her life being put on hold.
• She had been referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service in August 2019.
• The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said it was “deeply saddened” by death.

The delay in care, according to the family of a transgender lady Alice Litman who passed away after nearly three years on an NHS waiting list.

In May of last year, Brighton resident Alice Litman committed suicide while she was on a list with more than 11,000 other people to talk about her transition.

Her family said she “couldn’t tolerate” her life being put on hold.

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said it was “deeply saddened” by Ms. Litman’s death.

Ms. Litman’s mother, Caroline, said she had “desperately wanted to move on with her life and the long wait lists meant that she couldn’t”.

She added: “It was just putting her life on hold. In the end she just couldn’t tolerate it any more. It has torn our family apart.

“We loved her with all our hearts and we are so sad that she’s gone. I do believe that with the right care she could have managed and she would have thrived.”

When Ms. Litman told her family she wanted to live as a woman, she was 16 years old.

When she committed suicide at the age of 20, she had been referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service in August 2019, but she had not yet received an initial evaluation.

The family of Ms. Litman is hopeful that the inquest into her death, which is scheduled for September, will look at the issue of access to gender-affirming healthcare in the UK.

Ms. Litman’s father, Peter, said: “It’s not just Alice. It’s too late for her.

“There are lots of other young transgender people out there and they need our help.”

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, to which Ms. Litman had been referred, said: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of a patient who was waiting to be seen at the Gender Identity Clinic, but it is not appropriate to comment while the inquest is ongoing.”

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