What surgeries are available?
If you’re over 18 and have a formal gender diagnosis, the NHS will fund:
There is a considerable wait to access medical support from the NHS. If you have a formal diagnosis, you can pay for these surgeries yourself, which can mean a shorter wait.
The following surgeries are not normally funded by the NHS gender pathway, but gender services can write to your GP to ask they refer you:
These surgeries are not normally funded by the NHS:
breast reduction
breast augmentation
thyroid chondroplasty
voice surgeries
facial surgeries
liposuction
hair transplantation
Approval for funding for these surgeries is very occasionally given on an individual basis.
How do I choose a surgical team?
For some surgeries there are a large number of teams that will offer the surgery in the UK. You can find a complete list of UK surgeons who can be accessed via the NHS on the NGICNS website. If you have decided to pay for your own surgery, rather than using NHS funding, there are additional options available to you. For more information about these private surgery options read our private surgery page.
You can find useful tips for deciding which surgery team to use on the Umbrella Cymru website.
How can I get ready for surgery?
Doing some preparation in advance can help make sure everything goes smoothly during your hospital stay and recovery. To help you avoid forgetting to do or buy something we have created a Getting ready for gender surgeries page.
Where can I ask questions about surgery?
When you and your clinical team agree that you are ready for surgery on the NHS, the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Services (GDNRSS) will process your referral to your chosen surgical provider. They have a Single Point of Access support line that you can call for information about your referral, the status of your chosen provider and practical information such as travel and parking, who can accompany you, what to take with you and where to report when you get there.
You can also book a virtual consultation with one of the GDNRSS Clinical Nurse Advisors who can provide information on:
- Surgical techniques used by various providers and surgeon teams
- Typical recovery times following surgery
- Potential post-surgical complications
- Surgical eligibility criteria, where providers have these in place
- Waiting times for surgical providers
- Supporting patients to change provider
You can contact the service by calling 01522 85 77 99 or by email. The service is open Monday to Friday from 9am until 5pm. You can find out more about the service in this booklet.
How do I access medical services?
To get access to surgery, you will need to use medical services. You can read information about these services using on our pages:
- How to use medical services
- List of UK services
- Choosing a service
- How to get a referral
- Wait times
- First appointments
- Hormones
- Surgical consultations
- Speech therapy
- Dealing with problems
- Making a complaint
- Updating NHS records
- Accessing HRT without a diagnosis
- Blood testing
- Self-injection safety
- Gamete storage
- Private fees
- Private surgery
Where can I learn more?
GDNRSS have produced detailed guides about gender surgeries:
You can find more PDFs and websites about surgery in the Surgery section on genderarchive.org.uk.
Acknowledgements
This page is illustrated using a photograph by Павел Сорокин available at Pexels.
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