A key element of developing any Model of Care is to gain an understanding of the experience of interest holders, including:

• people using existing services
• people seeking services from the HSE
• healthcare workers providing services, including GPs
• other interest holders, such as the families of people using or seeking services.

The goal of reviewing the experience base (i.e. the experience of interest holders) is to understand: 

1. The clinical needs that are important to address from the perspective of service users and people seeking gender healthcare services from the HSE.
2. The clinical needs that are important to address from the perspective of families and/or caregivers, in the cases of children, young people, and vulnerable and/or dependent adults.
3. The experience of healthcare workers, including GPs, who deliver gender healthcare services in Ireland, including GPs, about the clinical needs they encounter in clinical practice.

This work is now beginning. The first step is to determine how best to contact and include interest holders with lived experience. To determine how best to contact and include interest holders, a working group is being established.

This step is only the first step of many in engaging interest holders. Our ambition is to contact as many interest holders as possible, and to include a wide range of perspectives and experiences. As this work progresses, we will be updating this page with our plans and next steps.