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Trans Care BC

Trans Care BC aims to enhance the coordination of trans health services and supports across the province, bringing gender-affirming care closer to home wherever possible.

Trans Care BC was established as a program of PHSA in fall 2015 following community engagement, and input from clinical experts and stakeholders from transgender communities.

BC is the first and only province in Canada to create a provincial system to support transgender health.

The program supports the delivery of equitable and accessible care, surgical planning, and peer and community support for transgender and gender-diverse people across BC.

Trans Care BC is working closely with partners and stakeholders – including transgender communities, regional health authorities and the Ministry of Health – to develop a comprehensive provincial network of services.

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What's new

May 1, 2018

Funding Opportunity for Provincial Peer and Community Support Services

Trans Care BC is pleased to announce a funding opportunity for peer and community support providers and community members in BC to develop new peer support projects or help support services that already exist. This funding (up to $8,000) is just one step toward our long-term goals of building more regional and provincial support for transgender, Two-Spirit, and gender diverse people and their families and communities.

Applications close at 9:00am, June 11th, 2018.

Visit our Funding Opportunities page for more information and the application form.


December 20, 2017 

Upper surgery update 

From January 1st 2018, Trans Care BC will take on additional responsibility for coordinating the existing central waitlist for publicly funded upper surgeries, previously managed by Dr. Bowman's office as part of his work with Vancouver Coastal Health. This is part of a wider effort by Trans Care BC in collaboration with Dr. Bowman and the group of plastic surgeons in BC who offer both chest and breast gender-affirming surgeries to make it simpler to access upper surgeries by offering clients the choice of first available surgeon or preferred surgeon (as before). 

What does this mean for me?

If you're currently on the waitlist – don't worry, you don't have to do anything and won't see any change. Your place on the waitlist won't be affected and someone from the Trans Care BC team will be in touch in time to book consultation with your preferred surgeon. Once they have received referrals from Trans Care BC, surgeons will book directly with clients.

If you're not on the waitlist but want to access publicly funded gender-affirming upper surgery, the process is the same and you can find more information about that on the Trans Health website. The only difference is that Trans Care BC will be managing the wait list and any questions you have can be directed to the Trans Care team.

Why is this happening?

The wait times for gender-affirming upper surgery have been long, and we've worked with a number of experienced plastic surgeons across BC in order to expand access. There are now five surgeons in BC offering both chest and breast construction surgery. The increased number of referrals coupled with the addition of more surgeons has meant that the central waitlist requires more administrative support than Dr. Bowman's office is able to manage.

If you have any questions about this change, please don't hesitate to get in touch with Trans Care BC's care team at 1-866-999-1514 or transcarebc@phsa.ca

Or if you want more information on upper surgery in general, visit the Trans Health website



Resources

 

Services in BC

Standards of care

Reports

About us

Trans Care BC was established as a program of PHSA in fall 2015 following community engagement, and input from clinical experts and stakeholders from transgender communities.

BC is the first and only province in Canada to create a provincial system to support transgender health.

The program supports the delivery of equitable and accessible care, surgical planning, and peer and community support for transgender and gender-diverse people across BC.

Trans Care BC is working closely with partners and stakeholders – including transgender communities, regional health authorities and the Ministry of Health – to the develop of a comprehensive provincial network of services.

 
Trans Care BC aims to offer expanded and sustainable health services to support transgender communities across the province by:

  • Developing gender-affirming, client-centered models of service
  • Ensuring access to gender-affirming and supportive health care is equitable and available to children, youth, adults and older adults
  • Supporting capacity-building, network development and other efforts to ensure efficient access to information, resources and support for trans and gender-diverse individuals, their families, friends and service/health care providers
Trans Care BC strategic vision graphic.jpg
 

 
Trans Care BC is aligned with international standards of care, and supports the use and distribution of evidence-­based information. We aim to improve care across the continuum and share best practices. 

Using a hub and spoke model of distributed care – including health care provider education as well as novel approaches like health navigators – the program will bring health care closer to home for transgender and gender-diverse people in British Columbia. 

This model allows us to leverage expertise and coordination centrally, but also work to expand primary care and peer support throughout the province. 
 

 
Our approach is to:

  • Earn and build trust with trans communities, trans individuals, gender-creative children and their families as well as with health care partners across BC through engagement and collaboration
  • Take a person-centred approach and working with each individual to achieve their personal health care goals
  • Respect diverse cultures including the unique perspectives and needs of Two-Spirit people
 

 
Trans* is an umbrella term that describes a wide range of people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differ from their assigned sex and/or the societal and cultural expectations of their assigned sex. 

This may include people who are: androgyne, agender, bigender, coercively assigned female at birth (CAFAB), coercively assigned male at birth (CAMAB), female-to-male (FTM), gender creative, gender fluid, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, gender variant, male-to-female (MTF), pangender, questioning, trans, trans man, trans woman, transfeminine, transgender, transmasucline, transsexual and Two-Spirit.
 

 
In October 2014, the Minister of Health announced that the Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) would be working together to offer expanded and sustainable health services to support transgender communities across the province. 

The Trans*Health steering committee met from December 2014 to May 2015 and developed a provincial network model for person and family-centred health care services for transgender British Columbians.

The committee included trans individuals and family representatives, and consulted with people from transgender communities, clinical experts, and other stakeholders about how best to create and expand services.

Read more about the steering committee's work.
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