I have my referral to the Northern Gender Clinic for March. Until then could anyone who has been through a transition, or is currently on their way, please give me an outline to the route we have to take in the Uk. I'm not full time yet, but I do dress in public, an out to all of my friends and family and despite no HRT or anything, I seem to pass ok ish. I did intend to wait till I had started HRT and had some laser before going full time but now I'm told you have to start your RLE before they start HRT.

So, what are the procedures/rules/hoops that we have to jump through, and in what order, can anyone set it straight for me please?

Thanks in advance... Sarah xxx

Hi Sarah, I'm not in the UK but from what I've read by others on the forum, if I understand correctly, RLE may be one of those hoops. Although I also believe new legislation has been passed which might relax some of those requirements. I couldn't imagine going full time before HRT as being on E and AAs has been just as central to dealing with my gender issues as any real life stuff. Good luck!

Hey Sarah,

Yeah here in the UK you will need to do a few things before getting on to HRT, first of which i believe is getting your name officially changed and coming out at work etc. RLE is a big part of the requirements in the UK and it could be many months of living RLE before HRT is considered. If i may recommend you try and do as much as you can before your first referral it should help speed things up.

Legislation has changed somewhat but i think it's more to do with the fact that GP's can refer you directly to the GIC's as opposed to via an assessment by a psychologist.

V x

I'm waiting for an appointment at Leeds, probably not gonna be seen until September

According to the new guidelines it should now be possible to get HRT prior to RLE, get a prescription from your GP if your self medding, get referral from GP directly to an endo and various other goodies...of course how much they will be followed remains to be seen but I have a copy printed out that I'm studying before my next doctors appointment.

Here's a link for those interested

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/files/pdfversion/CR181.pdf

Thanks for the link!

Thanks for the info everyone. That link could come in very handy!