A coroner has ordered reports into the death of a young trans woman who had been waiting more than 1,000 days to be seen for gender-affirming care.

Alice Litman died at the age of 20 in Brighton on May 26 last year.

At a pre-inquest review at Woodvale Coroner’s Court in Brighton on Friday, the court heard Alice had been on the waiting list at the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) at the time of her death.

In a statement released to The Argus before the review, Alice’s family said she had been waiting for more than 1,000 days to be seen.

Her family, who attended London Trans Pride and held up signs in memory of Alice following her death, said: “We believe that Alice died partly because of the inaccessibility of gender-affirming healthcare in the UK.

“We want the inquest to examine this to ensure we can get justice for Alice and change for all the trans people who are facing the same issues.

“At the time of her death, Alice had been on the GIC waiting list for 1,023 days without receiving her first appointment.

“We believe the long waiting lists can leave vulnerable trans people feeling hopeless and as though there is no end in sight.

“We want to live in a world where transgender people do not face threats to their safety, their autonomy, and their happiness.

“We all deserve to live in dignity with access to the healthcare we need. We are asking NHS England to prevent future deaths by urgently addressing the crisis in trans healthcare.”

The court also heard how Alice had been receiving mental health support from Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust through its CAMHS (Children and adolescent mental health services) service before being transferred when she turned 18 to adult mental health services.

The Argus: Alice Litman Alice Litman (Image: The Litman family)

The court heard after this transition to adult services there was “no mental health support” and that was when her health “deteriorated”.

Assistant coroner Sarah Clarke said she would examine the availability of trans health services and recognised that long waiting lists for such services was a national problem.

She also said she would examine the transition from receiving mental health support from CAMHS to adult mental health services,“ensuring people don’t fall through the gaps” and whether mental health services were “adequate as a whole”.

Ms Clarke said she would be investigating as far back as 2019 when Alice was receiving care from CAMHS.

Ms Clarke said: “I feel quite strongly about this case.

“There are questions we can ask that may help others in the future.”

The hearing was attended by Alice’s mother Caroline Litman, father Peter Litman,  sister Kate and her brother Harvey, alongside their legal representation.

Also attending via video link were Detective Sergeant Matt Stevens from Sussex Police, Dr James Barrett from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Sam Hall from WellBN Brighton medical practice.

DS Stevens said police were still conducting enquiries and had access to Alice’s laptop and desktop computer, which had revealed “nothing relevant” to their investigation and would be soon released back to her family.

However, they were still trying to gain access to Alice’s mobile phone.

Ms Clarke asked for reports from DS Stevens and Dr Barrett by March 14.

She said she had already received reports from Dr Hall, as well as Gender GP, although no one had responded to the invitation to attend the review from the online transgender clinic.

She said she would also be contacting CAMHS and Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust to provide evidence to the inquest.

A date for the three-day inquest has been set for September 18.