Hello!

So little bit of info first, for context and justification;

I'm 19 yro in first year Uni in the UK, I have a British Passport, British Nationality and am registered with my local GP and whatnot. However; I was born in Venezuela, grew up in Portugal/Colombia and have been in the UK for a total of three/four months, I know very little and I am not full or part time, nor am I even out in any capacity.

This is less related but just in case; I want to wait for my planned name change, presenting and coming out to friends/Uni until after I tell my parents. This is important for me and I just want to show them some respect.

That being said my family has always liked getting things ready well before they are needed, that being said I want to start getting my GP involved with my transition process. So I was wondering how you set up the appointment to tell them about being transgender, do you make a general appointment and then bring it up?

Also how do you go about getting a general physical? I would like to do this before starting pursuing the transition for a variety of reasons. Again is this just a general appointment and then you set up the specifics later?
I have never gone to the doctors in the UK so I have a complete blind spot when it comes to this.

Also, I know the NHS is essentially socialist healthcare but what would the costs be for this? I know prescriptions are only about £8 so would it also be a cheap, sort-of administrative fee or what?

TLDNR: Go back up there and read damn it! But also; I'm new to the NHS and the UK, I'm registered with the NHS, How do you set up an appointment to discuss being transgender? Is it a general appointment and then you bring it up? How do you set up a general physical, is it the same as before (general appt and then discuss/schedule?)?

Basically how does the NHS work? I know there are other online resources but they all assume you know the simple stuff like making an appointment. Also I am entrusting this community with more important stuff so damn it I trust you with this as well why not?!

Anyways I pre-emptively appreciate your input!

Hope you have a nice day/week,
- Alexis

Hello alexis, how are you ? I know transition can be so comfusing at times, but i will try to help if i can...

Set up a general appointment at your GP and tell then exactly how you feel regarding your gender. If they are a good GP they will set up an appointment for you to go and see a psychologist so you can be assessed. Once you have been assessed the GP/Psychologist will refer you to the gender clinic for you to see a gender specialists who will be a gender counsellor/ Psychologist and a gender nurse for you to get all your BMI and health checks done...

All of this is a very long process but within this time you will hopefully descuss hormones, surgery and so on..  Depending on your needs...

You will need to also live in your desired gender too for a minimum of 3 years. The purpose of this is to see if you could cope with everyday life, see if this is really what you want..

It took me from start to finish about 8 years. But there was complications regarding me of them loosing paperwork.... It may take you sooner...

I hope this helps a little and i wish you all the best in your future..

Lea x

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You have to set up an appointment with your GP and ask to be referred to a GIC. You don't have to see a general psychiatrist anymore although your GP may force you too as many don't know the current procedure for trans patients. You can ask to be referred to any GIC you want. You also don't have to live in your new gender role although the gender therapist will probably look more favourably if you are. I also pay £8.20 a month for my prescription of gel which I think is the standard prescription price.

Answer in a nutshell hun - yes

Here in the UK, your GP is basically first point of contact for practically everything (apart from medical emergencies of course, where you go to A&E), unless you are on private healthcare, in which case first point of contact would fall to them (although I believe those with private healthcare can still use the NHS too).  You're not on private (I assume?), so that's just a side note

You call up your doctor's practice and ask to make an appointment.  The receptionist you talk to may ask what it's for, in which case you'd tell them that you want to discuss some gender-related issues you've been having - you don't need to go into details about it, they just want to know so they can set you up with someone who has some expertise (you may very well get an appointment with someone who isn't your regular GP - in fact, I don't think I've ever had an appointment with doctor who I'm officially assigned to lol ).

Remember - all staff who work for the NHS are bound by patient confidentiality, including receptionists   If you don't feel comfortable telling the receptionist that the reson for your appointment is to discuss gender-related issues, you could always classify it as something like "general concerns about mental health".

Check out this page on the NHS website to get an idea of what you can expect:  http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Transhealth/Pages/local-gender-identity-clinics.aspx

Hope that helps hun, and feel free to ask if you have any further questions <3

Thanks everyone for the quick response!

I had the suspicion that it was a matter of making a general appointment.
Thank you for the helpful explanation!
- Alexis