Does anybody know the costs of going private in the UK? I heard it can take as long as 15 months to receive a prescription on the NHS and you have to start your RLE for three months before receiving the OK for the prescription?

Quote from: SCat on October 11, 2014, 05:23:56 PM
Does anybody know the costs of going private in the UK? I heard it can take as long as 15 months to receive a prescription on the NHS and you have to start your RLE for three months before receiving the OK for the prescription?

The UK has some strange ideas on this. When I went full time in 2007 they had a rule of being full time 9-12 months before getting hormones. There has been allot of work by various groups to get this changed. Before leaving the UK I was living in NE England and my Gender service were permitting hormones before going full time where as others are saying you cannot. The new guidelines say a GP can prescribe hormones once a Psychiatrist who specialises in treating Gender Dysphoria has given the ok. I have a link to the guidelines if you want it but not sure I'm allowed to post it here. If you search google using this search term you'll find it ( int-gend-proto.pdf ) or private message me and I'll send the full link. I think that's allowed.

As for the costs of going private. I have had a private consultation in London with a Gender Psychiatrist and paid 200 pounds for it but that was a number of years ago. I know my information doesn't strictly answer the question but I wanted to share what bit of knowledge I have. Could be worth paying that however if your GP will then write a prescription based on a letter from the Psyche you see privately.

Hope that helps some

Sorcha

As far as I remember the latest guidelines on how to treat gender dysphoria state you should be able to get hormones from your gp.

Obviously it all goes down to how easy going your gp is, whether you live full time etc.

I myself have waited about 2 months for my gp to agree to give me a prescription. Just ask your fellow MtFs or FtMs depending on how you identify, what meds they take and see how it goes

Good luck!


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The gender clinic took my word for it how long I had been in my RLE, they didn't check or verify anything. I Started at the gender clinic Oct 2013, by Oct 2014 I was on my hormones. By all accounts that is pretty quick.

That 12 months felt like a whirlwind of appointments, I am not sure I could have coped with it being any quicker!

Alice
xx

EDIT: The time you wait depends on individual gender clinic workloads too, I chopped at least 6 months off mine by being prepared to travel to Sheffield instead of going to my closest one which was leeds.

Just had my first appointment with the local nhs gic, should be approx 4 months until they are able to write me a prescription, they dont require any real life experience before the start of hrt thankfully, that comes when you are ready for it

Quick edit as im sure my sig will confuse, i have been self medicating until now, naughty i know but anyway im on the right track now

The cost depends on where you are in the UK. I started with Transhealth and plan to go on to shared care plan with my GP where the costs of hormones and blood tests is covered by the NHS.

Hi there, I have just had my second gender clinic appointment with dr Kennedy in Edinburgh. Have now been approved for hrt estradiol patch (evorel) and t blocker injections instead of spironolactone. Letter being sent to gp this week. Hope to start next week. Wondering how t blocker injections will compare to spiro.? Looking forward to changes although unsure how long they will take to kick in. With spiro which i ceased due to concerns of osteo arthritis, i had breast soreness and growth, including areola within 3 weeks. Also unsure how often I will have to take injections? I'm guessing every 6 weeks. Mood should also improve as I've  been very depressed of late.

Quote from: Elizabeth1 on October 17, 2014, 02:34:42 AM
Hi there, I have just had my second gender clinic appointment with dr Kennedy in Edinburgh. Have now been approved for hrt estradiol patch (evorel) and t blocker injections instead of spironolactone. Letter being sent to gp this week. Hope to start next week. Wondering how t blocker injections will compare to spiro.? Looking forward to changes although unsure how long they will take to kick in. With spiro which i ceased due to concerns of osteo arthritis, i had breast soreness and growth, including areola within 3 weeks. Also unsure how often I will have to take injections? I'm guessing every 6 weeks. Mood should also improve as I've  been very depressed of late.

My injection is every 3 months, my state of mind improved instantly with my t blocker. I can't speak to the phyisical changes caused by it since I started my estrogen at the same time.

Alice
xx

EDIT: Started with monthly injections, so they could get blood tests beck before they committed to a shot with a longer period of effectiveness. Once my bloods came back as OK they put me on 3 monthly.