Hey everyone :)
Haven't posted in a while.
Basically, I've been on T for just over 6 months now - did everything privately. I do have a doctor (just haven't asked about shared care yet).
I would like top surgery as soon as...how do I go about it?
I've had people tell me I'd have to be referred to a GIC and then do it? But that sounds kind of crazy to me if it is true. I don't want to have to jump through a billion hoops and answer a lot more questions, I really don't.
So where do I go from here? What options do I have?
Also if anyone has an up to date price for going private with Dr Yelland that would be great!
Thanks in advance for any replies! :)
Your health care system may be different than in the states, but here, I asked my endocrinologist. I didn't need a referral, I just called, explained the situation and the surgeon made the appointment. There are probably support groups in your area that can also steer you to a good surgeon.
sam1234
I think that if you're going private you might have fewer hoops, but if you're on the NHS you'll have to go through the GIC route. I haven't investigated the private route personally. I imagine as you don't have to do anything for augmentation if you're paying for it yourself, you'd be okay with a private cosmetic surgeon, but only if you've got 8-10k to spare...
You can go to Yelland privately if you want - his current price is just under £6,000 for either DI or peri. Contact his secretary on 01273 621144 (or email info@transurgery.co.uk) to discuss your options & make an appointment.
You'll have the exact same facilities - right down to the same bed - as you would have if you went via the NHS, because he performs his NHS operations in the Brighton Nuffield... which is exactly where he does his private stuff.
The current wait to get to a GIC is several months to a couple of years, depending on which one you pick. If you have the cash, you'd get top surgery much more quickly if you go privately than if you wait for a GIC to refer you.
Other surgeons are also available, but Yelland comes highly recommended and I can vouch for his results.
Quote from: FTMDiaries on December 09, 2015, 05:52:12 AM
You can go to Yelland privately if you want - his current price is just under £6,000 for either DI or peri. Contact his secretary on 01273 621144 (or email info@transurgery.co.uk) to discuss your options & make an appointment.
You'll have the exact same facilities - right down to the same bed - as you would have if you went via the NHS, because he performs his NHS operations in the Brighton Nuffield... which is exactly where he does his private stuff.
The current wait to get to a GIC is several months to a couple of years, depending on which one you pick. If you have the cash, you'd get top surgery much more quickly if you go privately than if you wait for a GIC to refer you.
Other surgeons are also available, but Yelland comes highly recommended and I can vouch for his results.
Thanks for your response!
Back to what you're saying about the GIC, if I did get referred i.e ask my doctor to refer me what would be next? I wait for an appointment? Do I have to have a few first and then they refer me for surgery? What is the process, do you know at all? Would be very helpful :)
For me obviously I'd rather not pay out of pocket, as I've already gone private and continue to pay for my t privately.
However if it's a lot of jumping through hoops I'd rather do it privately, save the hassle!
Quote from: Peep on December 08, 2015, 04:41:32 PM
I think that if you're going private you might have fewer hoops, but if you're on the NHS you'll have to go through the GIC route. I haven't investigated the private route personally. I imagine as you don't have to do anything for augmentation if you're paying for it yourself, you'd be okay with a private cosmetic surgeon, but only if you've got 8-10k to spare...
Quote from: sam1234 on December 07, 2015, 08:24:40 PM
Your health care system may be different than in the states, but here, I asked my endocrinologist. I didn't need a referral, I just called, explained the situation and the surgeon made the appointment. There are probably support groups in your area that can also steer you to a good surgeon.
sam1234
Thank you so much for your replies ;D
Quote from: HumanBeing on December 09, 2015, 10:33:05 AM
Thanks for your response!
Back to what you're saying about the GIC, if I did get referred i.e ask my doctor to refer me what would be next? I wait for an appointment? Do I have to have a few first and then they refer me for surgery? What is the process, do you know at all? Would be very helpful :)
For me obviously I'd rather not pay out of pocket, as I've already gone private and continue to pay for my t privately.
However if it's a lot of jumping through hoops I'd rather do it privately, save the hassle!
The wait times vary depending on the GIC. Usually they'll refer you to one closest to you, but I think you can request a different one. I think if you're already on HRT there'll be less hoops, but there will be a wait, you may have to talk to a psychologist if your GP thinks its necessary, etc. The guidelines + protocol for NHS england and scotland are easy to find online, and they have more specific/detailed info. Just remember the 18 week target is only a target and none of the clinics seem to be making it...
Exactly - as Peep says, the waiting times are very much variable and it does depend on which part of the UK you're from.
- If you're in Scotland, there are four clinics, most of which only accept referrals from certain parts of Scotland, all with different waiting times for a first appointment. The main one is the Sandyford in Glasgow (12 month wait), and you can self-refer to them from anywhere in Scotland without needing to see your GP first. The others are in Aberdeen (5 months), Inverness (2 months) and Edinburgh (12 months) and those three only accept patients from the surrounding area.
- If you're in Wales, you have to see your GP first, who will refer you to your local Community Mental Health Team. They'll give you some psychiatric assessments and if they decide you have Gender Dysphoria, they'll submit your case to the local Gatekeeper who allocates funding for a GIC. You'll then join the bottom of the long waiting list for Charing Cross in London (that's the only clinic they fund atm). In practical terms, the time between seeing your GP and getting hormones/surgery is about 2 years.
- If you're in England, there are 7 GICs and you're entitled to choose from any of them irrespective of where you live. You need to see your GP first and ask them to refer you to the clinic of your choice. They all have different waiting times for your first appointment, some of which are ridiculous - but they're all working on recruiting new staff to improve these waits. Current approximate waiting times for a first appointment are: Charing Cross, London (13 months); Leeds (4 years!); Newcastle (4 years!); Daventry (4 months); Nottingham (12 months); Sheffield (18 months); The Laurels, Exeter (8 months). So the quickest one is Daventry in Northamptonshire, and they tend to move you forward quite quickly once you're on their books.
- If you're in Northern Ireland, there's the Brackenburn Clinic in Belfast. Their waiting time is approx. 5 months.
In all cases, you usually need to have at least 3 therapist appointments (each a couple of months apart) before you get to see the doctor who prescribes hormones & refers you for surgery. It's also worth bearing in mind that different GICs use different surgeons, so if you want Yelland you'll find that most of the Northern clinics don't use him, but most of the Southern ones (e.g. The Laurels) do.
Also, Yelland's waiting list has gone up tremendously due to the sheer volume of guys being referred to him at the moment. There's currently a waiting list of approx. 7 months between him getting the referral letter from a GIC, and you actually having your surgery. I don't know whether he's fitting in private patients more quickly, but suffice it to say he's a very popular surgeon & a very busy man!
So if you do the maths, based on an average wait time of 8 months at a clinic that I can guarantee refers patients to Yelland (The Laurels):
- 8 months' wait for your first appointment at The Laurels.
- 4 months (probably - this varies hugely) of therapy/doctor's assessements before referral.
- 1 month for the referral to be written & sent, and received by Yelland.
- 7 months' wait (at least!) for Yelland.
... all of that adds up to 20 months. So in practical terms, you probably wouldn't be operated on until Summer/Autumn 2017, if you choose to go via the NHS.
There are other alternatives: quite a few British guys have travelled to the States to have their surgery performed by Dr Garramone. Depending on the fees and the type of hotel you choose, that can work out costing slightly less than Yelland. Plus of course there's always Thailand.
Quote from: FTMDiaries on December 10, 2015, 06:17:57 AM
Exactly - as Peep says, the waiting times are very much variable and it does depend on which part of the UK you're from.
- If you're in Scotland, there are four clinics, most of which only accept referrals from certain parts of Scotland, all with different waiting times for a first appointment. The main one is the Sandyford in Glasgow (12 month wait), and you can self-refer to them from anywhere in Scotland without needing to see your GP first. The others are in Aberdeen (5 months), Inverness (2 months) and Edinburgh (12 months) and those three only accept patients from the surrounding area.
- If you're in Wales, you have to see your GP first, who will refer you to your local Community Mental Health Team. They'll give you some psychiatric assessments and if they decide you have Gender Dysphoria, they'll submit your case to the local Gatekeeper who allocates funding for a GIC. You'll then join the bottom of the long waiting list for Charing Cross in London (that's the only clinic they fund atm). In practical terms, the time between seeing your GP and getting hormones/surgery is about 2 years.
- If you're in England, there are 7 GICs and you're entitled to choose from any of them irrespective of where you live. You need to see your GP first and ask them to refer you to the clinic of your choice. They all have different waiting times for your first appointment, some of which are ridiculous - but they're all working on recruiting new staff to improve these waits. Current approximate waiting times for a first appointment are: Charing Cross, London (13 months); Leeds (4 years!); Newcastle (4 years!); Daventry (4 months); Nottingham (12 months); Sheffield (18 months); The Laurels, Exeter (8 months). So the quickest one is Daventry in Northamptonshire, and they tend to move you forward quite quickly once you're on their books.
- If you're in Northern Ireland, there's the Brackenburn Clinic in Belfast. Their waiting time is approx. 5 months.
In all cases, you usually need to have at least 3 therapist appointments (each a couple of months apart) before you get to see the doctor who prescribes hormones & refers you for surgery. It's also worth bearing in mind that different GICs use different surgeons, so if you want Yelland you'll find that most of the Northern clinics don't use him, but most of the Southern ones (e.g. The Laurels) do.
Also, Yelland's waiting list has gone up tremendously due to the sheer volume of guys being referred to him at the moment. There's currently a waiting list of approx. 7 months between him getting the referral letter from a GIC, and you actually having your surgery. I don't know whether he's fitting in private patients more quickly, but suffice it to say he's a very popular surgeon & a very busy man!
So if you do the maths, based on an average wait time of 8 months at a clinic that I can guarantee refers patients to Yelland (The Laurels):
- 8 months' wait for your first appointment at The Laurels.
- 4 months (probably - this varies hugely) of therapy/doctor's assessements before referral.
- 1 month for the referral to be written & sent, and received by Yelland.
- 7 months' wait (at least!) for Yelland.
... all of that adds up to 20 months. So in practical terms, you probably wouldn't be operated on until Summer/Autumn 2017, if you choose to go via the NHS.
There are other alternatives: quite a few British guys have travelled to the States to have their surgery performed by Dr Garramone. Depending on the fees and the type of hotel you choose, that can work out costing slightly less than Yelland. Plus of course there's always Thailand.
Wow thanks so much for that, really helped a lot. Especially approx wait times!
Yeah it's funny you should mention Thailand I've actually been looking at that today to be honest :)
I did consider Garramone but when I add up the cost+travel etc it's crazy money.
I'm strongly considering Dr Chettawut in Thailand though.
I know it's the same for everyone but I don't really like the idea of having to talk and be 'assessed' all over again just to be referred for surgery. I mean don't get me wrong we are very fortunate to have the option so I'm not complaining at all.
Thanks again for all of this info :)