The NHS route UK

[Nikki H]

Hi again!
This is aimed at people transitioning or who have transitioned in the UK or who have a working knowledge of the NHS!
I'm a control freak. Everything to do with transitioning (almost) is outside of my hands.
I feel like I'm drowning (and I haven't even started!)
I'm basically wanting to get in my head what the process will be, hoping that will settle my mind. The NHS website says one thing, but common sense says it's not that easy.
So here's what I have so far and would be greatful if y'all could fill in the gaps accordong to your own experiances:
Visit GP
Referral to Mental Health Specialist (locally)
Visit MHS...
I'm lost there.
I'm also mainly wanting to start HRT asap for obvious reasons, I think from what I've read I should be just in the age range for good effect.
So who do you need to see for HRT?
Hopefully this could be a good resource for others in the UK too
Thanks x

[rejennyrated]

I am in the UK but as I went through the process some 30 years ago and I went privately I may be slightly wrong on some points here - but from those I know who followed the NHS pathway roughly speaking the NHS process is as follows:

1. See your GP

2. Wait 6 months for an appointment at your local psych clinic where they screen you to make sure you aren't Schitzoid or delusional before referring you on to a GIC.

3a. Attend the GIC for your first appointment

3b. During this period you will also have to start your electolysis. This you will have to fund yourself as most PCT's do not pay for hair removal. Because electrolysis takes longer to work than HRT you will need to start it before commencing HRT otherwise by the time the HRT has made it necessary for you to transition your electrolysis will not be sufficiently advanced for you to pass well.

4. Wait 6 months before you can start hormones. During this time you will see the GIC twice and be encouraged to examine the history of your gender issue and the motivations you have.

5. Start HRT and shortly afterward transition and begin you Real life test (NB some clinics will require you to transition before starting hormones. I think this is barbaric - but that's what they do!)

6. 1 or sometime 2 years of Real life test during which time you will attend the clinic once every 3 months and further be encouraged to participate in various other activities like support groups and various ancillary things like speech therapy etc.

7. Obtain your surgical referral.

8. argue with your PCT as to whether they will actually fund your SRS - some are very helpful but others refuse on first application and only relent when you show willing to sue them and/or involve the local media in your campaign.

9. go on the surgical waiting list which can range from 6 months to a year.

Total time elapsed to being postop at least 3 years and probably 5 years cost - electrolysis cost only.

Alternatively - go private - Your surgery will cost about £15,000 and your Psychiatric treatment will cost a further £600 BUT you could be postop within one to two years.

The private route is more expensive but you are not at the whim of political manipulation of healthcare budgets. No one can criticise you for tying up valuable resources and of course the results start to come MUCH quicker.

Typically a private patient will be on HRT within 6 months of their first appointment - during which time the NHS'ers will probably still be waiting for their initial local screening.

Hope that is at least of some help - and if any more recent Uk girls who have more experience of the NHS want to correct any inaccuracies please feel free to do so.

[Rock_chick]

The NHS love to drag their heels, and little old cynical me reckons that they'll find even more reasons to considering the current financial climate.

I ended up deciding to self fund because i got sick of waiting for the referral to a local specialist who'd then refer me to CHX. If you want to be in control of your destiny Self funding is a viable option, but it is expensive. however I started HRT 8 months after coming to the realisation i had to transition...if i was on the NHS i'd still be waiting.

self funding is obviously not for everyone, but if you can manage it, it saves a lot of hassle.

[JaimeJJ]

Go to your GP firstly and get on the waiting list for CX.

While this may take 6-9 months, in the meantime make a private appointment to see Dr Curtis in London, who will put you on hormones within a couple of months (providing you have had at least 3 months of therapy, which doesn't have to be with a gender therapist).

Start taking hormones, then attend CX when your appointment date arrives and let them take it from there.  Fastest and cheapest way possible.

[Nikki H]

Wow fast replies!
I'm very shocked to be confirmed that some PCT's don't prescribe HRT until after living in role, I personally couldn't imagine anything worse!! Hoped that was just a nasty rumour!

Although I'm currently a student, I can start work at easter and that route involving transhealth (dr curtis) seems very desirable, any idea on the associated costs there? Also would mixing private and NHS cause any system problems when going back to NHS?
Again, all experiances with NHS more than welcome!
Nikki x

[rejennyrated]

An alternative to Dr curtis - particularly if you want to go on progesterone, and personally I would recommend it is to go see Dr Michale Perring.

Helena can tell you all about him.

Dr Curtis is a fine choice, but does hold some strong views on HRT which personally I think are completely wrong based on my experiences of living on HRT for nearly 30 years. If I had seen him we probably would have literally come to blows within seconds.

So for those who want an alternative Dr Perring is also very good.

[Rock_chick]

Dr Perring is absolutely amazing, he's such a sweet man and I had my scrip for pretty much the full works HRT on my second visit up there.

Cost wise if you started on the same regime as me...which was reasonably cautious, you'd need to find £250 pounds every three months to afford seeing Dr Perring and your HRT scrip...that is assuming you can't get it via the NHS.

as to mixing private and NHS, you may find that some NHS doctors take a dim view to queue jumping (as they see it)...this is where my issues with the NHS have come down to.

[Nikki H]

Hi Helena, I just checked out his website and it's very sparse - ok understatement - void of trans related HRT info.
Just wondering if you could shed some light on your "travels" so far - ofcourse if it's not too private for you.
£250 every 3 months is less than I pay for travel (wow!) And I would love any more info you have to share!
Nikki x

[Rock_chick]

I've had two appointments with Dr Perring so far...my third is next month. prior to seeing Dr Perring I had been having counselling in regards to my transition and though I'm not sure if it's a 100% requirement, he does like it if you have already been dealing with things...plus it means your counsellor can write (i'll call it a referral but it isn't really) detailing the process you've been through so far. I'd also legally changed my name and things like tax, NI, bank details and drs records. In effect I was legally living as a female even though I effective went part time the weekend before my first appointment. I was basically able to present a bunch of evidence that said to Dr Perring that i was taking my transition seriously and had already done 'x' amount towards it. we discussed my past history and what I wanted to get out of seeing a specialist (Dr Perring). Basically I wanted to start HRT.

fast forward to my second appointment and I was in there 15 minutes, I already had a very good idea of what I wanted to take we discussed it, he wrote out the scrip...my squeals of joy could then be heard in plymouth

The main thing is if you see Dr Perring and your absolutely clear in your mind what you want to do and in fact are already working towards it, you shouldn't have any problems what so ever. the £250 every three months is the £150 per appointment plus the cost of a private prescription...if you can get a shared care agreement with your local GP then it's only really the cost of the appointments.

Hope this is of use to you hun 

[Nikki H]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! You cannot believe how much I appreciate you taking the time!
Definatly something to consider, the money vs time seems very worthwhile!

I think I Hi-Jacked my own thread there, still very interested on any info about NHS, as it seems I'm going to have to rely on them for the majority of my transition!
Nikki x

[Rock_chick]

he he, it's good to know what your options were...i basically got fed up waiting for the behemoth that is the NHS to spring into action...i don't regret it in the slightest.

[pebbles]

Well you goto your GP he will refer you to the mental health services it might take him upto a month to do this.

They will have a look at you decide if your trans or other kinds of crazy if your just trans they will put in a request for funding this will take 6 weeks

After this has been approved you will be put on the GIC waiting list which I was told was 8 months long as of November.
Your expected to transition now without hormones (I wouldn't blame you if you told them to jam there requirements up there A** I have no idea how any trans person endures there crap)

They see you once then a second time with 3 months in-between each appointment. After these 6 months you will IF your lucky put on HRT

After that you have to be full time for 2 years then they will consider you for surgery. You need to argue with those stupid shrinks then argue with your PCT to fund you.

There are other routes... I personally cheated I hold no regrets If I listened to any of there hypocritical rules I would be long since dead.
I did things pretty differently technically i'm still in the 8 month waiting period for GIC garbage I presume I was approved for funding I have no clue. Yet I've also nearly fully transitioned and am full-time (I just need to get around to changing my passport really) and I'm currently doing something abit different where I'm arguing with my GP to get a endocrinologist to do a blood screen on me as I've not had one despite begin on HRT for nearly a year... He said he would but I never heard from him again *Le sigh* ¬.¬ so I gotta annoy them again.

[Nikki H]

It is starting to seem pretty consistant with the NHS being slow and in many casaes just uncaring or however you want to phrase it.
I've "googled" this extensively and can only fond bad experiances, but then again good news is seldom shared, I would love to hear a happy story about the NHS anyone?
Nikki x

[Siren]

I would love to hear a happy story about the NHS anyone?

That'll be me then! I had a great experience with the NHS.
My GP prescribed hormones for me before I was referred to the Gender Clinic. It's unusual but it can happen so it's worth asking. She referred me to the local Mental Health Specialist which took less than a month, and they in turn referred me to Charing Cross Gender Clinic which took another 4 months. They took over my hormone prescription on the first visit.
I had a further 4 appointments spread out over 18 months before being referred for surgery.
The waiting list for surgery was 6 months and I had my GRS last year at Charing Cross exactly 2 years after my first appointment there.

[Nathan.]

I would love to hear a happy story about the NHS anyone?
Nikki x

Although the initial wait of 9 months wasn't good everything else has been positive for me. I've had no problem with NHS transition, on the second app I was given the ok for T and around 6 months on T they are going to consider surgery. I just had my 4th app there yesterday, one of those was with an endo.

Also although you shouldn't really go on hormones before they tell you to I was told while they were talking about GIC myths that they wouldn't take you off them and they would make sure from now on you would have prescribed hormones so they wouldn't be dangerous etc and you would have to have a blood test.

[MillieB]

I can't say that I've had too many problems with the NHS and I have been flirting between NHS and private care (Dr Curtis). After my initial appointment with Dr C he wrote a letter for my G.P and she referred me to the local mental elf, who cleared me of all of the usual stuff then she refered me to CHX and I've got my first appointment next month. They all know that I have started HRT and no-one so far has had a problem, they also do my bloods so that Dr C can monitor me.

First talk with my GP to virst appointment at CHX just under 8 months which I'm pretty happy with 

[El]

Im going through the NHS at the minute, i went to my gp with the details of the local gender clinic on hand and asked for a referral. Within a month or 2 i had my first appointment with a psychiatrist and psychologist who i then saw individually then together again (over the course of about 6 months) and thenh they reffered me to Charing Cross. Im not waiting for CHX to get back to me and im at 9 months RLE.

i started my real life experience last april and still am nowhere near getting hormones and its not all that bad. Ive been shouted at from moving vehicles and some snide comments from passing strangers but its all good!

[Nikki H]

It's funny, I think anyways, that we cling to the NHS still - so many contracidtions! Anyways not the time or place for that discussion!
Thank you for the feedback, seems some very good (especially by NHS standards) outcomes. But also seems a bit of pot luck, ofcourse this could also be the system doing what it's meant to - treating everyone as an individual! Who knows!!
I feel a lot more confident going to my GP now. And I will almost certainly be mixing with private to hopefully speed up HRT as soon as I can afford it.
Nikki x