Scottish Greens councillor Holly Bruce said the huge delays would “cost lives” and asked what action is being done to reduce the length of time.
Speaking at yesterday’s full council meeting she said: “Without drastic action most people on this list will never be seen and this is of great concern. I cannot express to this chamber enough how much this will cost lives.”
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SNP Councillor Chris Cunningham disputed the 224-year figure saying it is actually seven years for adults and six for young people.
He said the data source and its interpretation put forward by councillor Bruce isn’t clear.
The health convenor said: “The Sandyford clinic’s own website shows waiting times of around seven years for adult gender services and six years for young people’s services.
“Six and seven years is far too long and both I and the Health and Social Care Partnership are committed to reducing these waiting times but to state the obvious these figures are a long way from the 224 years mentioned in the question.”
Explaining the reasons for the backlog, he said the Sandyford specialist sexual health service covers 59 per cent of the Scottish population.
He added: “Demand massively outweighs available resources.”
He said on “top of that there has been an unprecedented rise in demand” so the service is focused on managing internal waiting lists, which affects how quickly people can be seen.
Another issue is a lack of people applying to vacant posts, according to councillor Cunningham.
Councillor Bruce said the information came from publisher QueerAF, which obtained the figures through freedom of information.
The Sandyford said the gender service offered is for people “who are uncomfortable or uncertain about their gender identity, and adult transgender and non-binary people who are considering feminising or masculinising treatment.”