FOI – 000181 National Services Division funding for gender reassignment surgery in England (HTML)
Date received - 03 August 2022 | Date responded - 31 August 2022
Request
- Can you please tell me how many under 18-year-old biological males and females National Services Division has funded to have gender reassignment surgery in England in the intervening period since the period covered by the last FOI?
- Please can you break the figures down to show how many of each specific type of surgery have been carried out, i.e. male to female and female to male genital surgery and male to female specialist chest reconstructive surgery.
- Please tell me what total amount of funding has been provided for the surgery for all of these patients to be carried out. Please also provide an indication of the costs for each specific type of surgery, i.e. a cost indication for chest reconstructive surgery etc.
Response
I refer to your freedom of information request that we received on 03 August 2022. I can advise you that we have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:
1) Can you please tell me how many under 18-year-old biological males and females National Services Division has funded to have gender reassignment surgery in England in the intervening period since the period covered by the last FOI?
National Services Scotland (NSS) recently published an FOI request in relation to gender reassignment surgery, which covered the five year period 2016/17 to 2020/21. Please see the link to FOI – 000051.
Under Section 38 (1) (b) of FOISA, we have not provided exact numbers to ensure no patient identifiable information is released in line with Caldicott Principles. For the period 2021/22 and up to 31 July 2022, the number of people funded was fewer than 5.
2) Please can you break the figures down to show how many of each specific type of surgery have been carried out, i.e. male to female and female to male genital surgery and male to female specialist chest reconstructive surgery.
Please see below figures showing the numbers for each type of surgery carried out:
- Male to female genital surgery - 0
- Female to male genital surgery - 0
- Male to female specialist chest reconstructive surgery – fewer than 5. Under Section 38 (1) (b) of FOISA, we have not provided exact numbers to ensure no patient identifiable information is released in line with Caldicott Principles.
3) Please tell me what total amount of funding has been provided for the surgery for all of these patients to be carried out. Please also provide an indication of the costs for each specific type of surgery, i.e. a cost indication for chest reconstructive surgery etc.
The total amount of funding to date for those referred/authorised who are under 18 for the period 2021/22 and up to 31 July 2022 is £6,075.09. Funding applications were submitted to National Services Division (NSD) within a 6 month period of the patients turning 18 years old. Due to waiting times, it is therefore likely that surgery would not take place until after the patient turned 18 years old.
With regards to indication of costs these vary depending on providers and procedure type:
- Mastectomy and related chest reconstruction – Approximately £5k
- Masculinising genital surgery - Typically between £20k and £50k depending on the surgical pathway
- Feminising genital surgery – Approximately £11k
There are also costs associated with pre-op and follow-up outpatient appointments.
I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.
If you require any further information please contact Associate Director Information Security & Governance, within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.
Contact
Email: nss.foi@nhs.scot
Address
NHS National Services Scotland Headquarters Gyle Square 1 South Gyle Crescent Edinburgh EH12 9EB
If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.
National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.