Rae's Top Surgery

Hi everyone! I’m Rae, and I’m a transgender non binary human. I’ve been on the NHS waiting list for a Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) appointment for over 5 years. My aim is to have surgery to make my body look how I feel on the inside, and for me that is a flat masculine chest. This is commonly referred to as top surgery by transgender people. I’m also autistic and ADHD and being neurodivergent makes the dysphoria (unbearable discomfort) I feel around my chest feel a lot worse.

Unfortunately, even though under the NHS constitution someone should wait no longer than 18 weeks for an appointment, the GIC wating times in the UK are far far far beyond that. There are 7 GICs in England and most have waiting times for first appointment of 5 years. The service I am waiting for, the Laurels Exeter Gender Clinic, is much longer than this.

I checked with the Laurels in December 2023 and they said that "The last people to have initial assessments were referred to the service in July 2016." Which means that they are still working on people who were referred to have a first appointment 7.5 years ago.

When I last checked with them in October 2021 they were working on April 2016 referrals. So that means in over 2 years they have worked through less than 3 months of referrals.

I was referred in August 2019 as that was when I was sure I could cope with the (many) risks of surgery. Where they are working at processing 3 months of referrals in 2 years that means that I will have another 16 years to wait for first appointment and then approximately 2 years for the second appointment to get a gender dysphoria diagnosis and a surgery referral. As at this rate I will be waiting 21.5 years for first appointment and will be 52 years old. Take it from me, if you are even slightly questioning your gender, get a referral to start the waiting list even if you are unsure if you want surgery or hormones.

As a result of this waiting time, I have realised my only real option is to pay for private surgery, as my mental health is suffering and I cannot wait another 16 years for a first appointment and potentially 18 years to start living life in a body that doesn’t make me feel sick all of the time.

In order to get private surgery I have saved as much money as possible, and I have also had to work over the last 2 years to reduced my BMI, as private surgery has strict BMI limits in the UK. I’ve currently lost 25% of my body weight and have around 10% more to lose just to meet private surgery weight limits, but the lead time for private surgery is around a year so I have time to meet that goal.

I have some money saved for surgery and I need to make up the rest but am struggling to save money with inflation and the increases in cost of living. The money I have saved is my life savings, and my buffer if the car goes, or the boiler goes, so I am hoping that with help I can keep some kind of buffer. I am disabled and can only work 4 days a week, and my partner is also disabled and can only do reduced hours, so we are always struggling to make ends meet.

So this is my appeal to anyone who knows the pain of gender dysphoria, or anyone who wants to help me achieve my goal. I would be eternally grateful. If surgery cannot go ahead for any reason I will refund each and every one of you.

Surgery costs –

Gender dysphoria diagnosis and referral to be allowed surgery (Kneeshaw has said only 1 needed now) - £600

Pre-surgery consultations - £165

Surgery itself - £8888

Travel to and from surgery - £200

AirBnB stay up in Hull for the 2 weeks after surgery when I can’t travel and need to be close by for emergencies - £1500

Total online needed - £11,353

Minus offline donations - £1069

Total - £10,284