A TRANSSEXUAL is considering legal action against Huddersfield Primary Care Trusts over waiting times for sex-change surgery.

Emma, 40, has been told she faces a two-year wait just to get an initial consultation at Leeds Gender Clinic.

Emma - who did not wish to reveal her surname - has already paid more than £2,000 to be assessed by private consultants in Sheffield.

She was referred to Sheffield by her GP in April 2003 and underwent six months of lengthy psychological tests.

A panel agreed she was a woman trapped in a man's body and should have treatment.

But Emma was told by Huddersfield Primary Care Trusts that she could not have funding for immediate treatment at Sheffield and could only be treated at Leeds Gender Clinic.

She must wait two years for an initial appointment there, then repeat the assessment process.

Emma said she is considering taking the PCT on in the courts.

She said: "I have no idea why they are reluctant. But I want to do something that will make it impossible for them to carry on like this."

Emma said she would have continued hormone treatment and surgery privately.

But her funds are running out and surgery costs between £7,000 and £15,000.

Emma says the average waiting time for an appointment in other areas is six months. She claims it is the local PCTs' system for commissioning treatment which is the problem.

All 15 PCTs in West Yorkshire pay a set annual amount to the West Yorkshire Commissioning Group, which buys services from Leeds Gender Clinic.

Patients are only referred to Leeds for consultations and, if deemed suitable for surgery, are referred to doctors in Leicester.

Twenty-three patients can be treated each year at Leeds.

The PCT can decide to send patients elsewhere but only if its exceptional cases committee agrees.

Emma's case was referred to the committee without her knowledge. She said: "I am sure I should have had chance to be represented at the meeting but I didn't get it."

She simply received a letter stating the PCTs would not fund treatment at Sheffield.

On top of her two-year wait for an appointment at Leeds, Emma's treatment will take up to four years, meaning it will be six years before her gender is changed.

She said: "If people aren't getting treated, what is the money paid out for?

"It's a total nightmare living like this. You are trapped between two genders and you can't get on with your life."

A spokeswoman for Huddersfield PCTs said it is up to doctors at the Leeds Gender Clinic to decide whether they take assessments made at other centres into account.

She said the PCTs' method of commissioning gender identity services was part of a "risk sharing process".

"All patients in West Yorkshire are treated equally, in a chronological order."

* Claire Eastwood, a transsexual from Holywell Green, is taking Calderdale Primary Care Trust to court over the same problems. Her legal team served papers on the trust which state there is strong evidence that failing to treat gender identity disorders harms patients - and increases the incidences of suicide.

For most people it is impossible to understand what it is really like to feel trapped in the `wrong' gender.

Emma agreed to tell her story to show what being transsexual really means.

EMMA knew she was different from the age of five. She said: "I was five when I started dressing as a woman.

"I was 11 when I had the first realisation of wanting to be female. I knew what was in store for me when I saw a programme on the BBC about Julia Grant (a famous transsexual)."

Emma suppressed her feelings and tried to conform to social norms.

She said: "I got married at 26 in an attempt to 'cure' myself.

"I told my ex-wife about my dressing before we married and she helped me in every way possible. But it didn't work.

"I stopped dressing for a while after the divorce as I had to fight for custody of my daughter."

Emma was 34 when she began to dress as a female. In January, 2003, she changed her name to Emma and began living full-time as a woman.

Before doing this she had started voluntary work with young offenders.

But after her transition began things changed.

She said: "I did it for two years.

"When I told them of my transition I was told that's OK, we don't discriminate. But within six months I was asked to leave. The others I worked with were told not to use my name but to refer to me as 'my colleague'."

All this led to Emma having a breakdown at the end of 2003 - which was when she asked her GP for gender reassignment.

Finding work is a problem for Emma because of her situation.

She is currently a student. She said: "I have had problems getting work over the summer to pay rent and bills.

"No-one wants to know if you are transsexual. I tried not putting my transsexual status on the application form, but when I get an interview it is followed by a rejection letter.

"So I work for a charity shop, which is really good, but there's no money in it."

Despite the difficulties, Emma has found support in some areas.

She said: "I was a governor at my daughter's school and I offered to give up if they thought the school would suffer.

"But I was welcomed with open arms there. I am still a governor and an active member of the PTA.

"With a lot of people I've not had any problems. Women are fantastic about it. Men I feel are scared that if I touch them they will catch it and end up in high heels!"