Should The Nhs Even Be Doing Tg Operations?...

[ToraToraTora]

http://news.sky.com/story/1622257/nhs-failing-transgender-people-report-says
Lot of moaning here but surely the NHS is designed for real medical issues not for those who have decided they want to change sex. If they are that desperate they can pay privately.

[jim360]

Since gender dysphoria is a "real medical issue", then yes.

[jackthehat]

It's not just the transformative operations that the NHS is responsible for but the entire range of 'psychiatric' treatments and referrals that have to take place first. The NHS has an obligation to ensure that it addresses the mental health of the people of the UK.

[woofgang]

What a nasty post. TTT you should be ashamed of yourself.

[andy-hughes]

TTT - to take the position that gender reassignment surgery is a matter of choice - in line with cosmetic surgery for vanity reasons, is to miss the point made by jack - it is a complex psychological and medical process, and not undertaken on the whim of someone with too much time on their hands and a desire to opt for an alternative lifestyle.

[Svejk]

Don't see why it's a nasty post. Choices, re spending, are being made daily in the NHS.
To push the point, should a child die to pay for a 'trans' operation.( whatever the term is)

[retrocop]

JTH
You have outlined the procedures for the physical procedure and mental care and such but wasn't the question asking why this is made the responsibility of the NHS and should the NHS be doing them. The procedures required can be done privately and not a resposibility of the NHS I think is what is being suggested.

[andy-hughes]

retrocop - //JTH
You have outlined the procedures for the physical procedure and mental care and such but wasn't the question asking why this is made the responsibility of the NHS and should the NHS be doing them. The procedures required can be done privately and not a resposibility of the NHS I think is what is being suggested. //

Surely any procedure that is available on the NHS can also be provided by the private sector, so the question needs to be addressed about what is essential, and entitled, under NHS rules, and what can be deemed non-essential, and therefore required to be financed from the private sector.

I think the key to TTT's position is the wording of his point, that people '... have decided they want to change sex ...'

I think you'll find that people embarking on gender reassignment surgery are not doing it as a matter of choice - inferring it is a lifestyle option.

[jomifl]

I think the medical practioners involved are probably capable of assessing the necessity of and degree of surgery or psychotherapy.

[jim360]

Not all trans* people can afford it (and, to be sure, the operations in question are fairly expensive) -- if gender reassignment surgery is restricted only to the rich then it can well be viewed as something of a choice that people can make if they have the money to afford that kind of life decision. But it's not really a choice and shouldn't be restricted to only those who can pay for it.

Gender reassignment surgery -- and in particular all of the medical attention that precedes it -- should certainly be available on the NHS.

[ummmm]

The ramifications of a transgender not having the op could end up costing the NHS more in the long run.

[Svejk]

///I think the key to TTT's position is the wording of his point, that people '... have decided they want to change sex ...'///

If people have decided to have one, they've decided to have one.

[jim360]

You do need to be careful though in referring to it as a "decision". So long as it's acknowledged that there are deep internal compulsions driving a person inexorably towards making such a decision, and that therefore it was, for many such people, a necessary decision, then fine. The problem is that so many people when calling such surgery a decision seem to think of it as one taken almost on a whim, for the sake of it -- which it isn't. Having said that, not all transpeople opt for gender reassignment surgery (GRS), some being content to present and live the rest of their lives as the gender they identify with without feeling the need to change their bodies to match. But it's a personal thing, associated greatly with mental state and various other factors.

Regardless, though, of your views about GRS, it's a fact that NHS care for gender dysphoria throughout is pretty shocking. Ditto all other mental health issues, for that matter.

[Svejk]

I was thinking of becoming a woman but I'm a bit scared that having half my brain removed might hurt.

[Mamyalynne]

Yes the NHS should be doing these operations , as they are vital to both the physical and mental health of those in this situation.


I think it is hard for those of us who are not affected to understand the anguish these issues cause and even now our lack of knowledge (mine included) on this subject is poor.

[andy-hughes]

I think jim360 has explained the issues with clarity - gender re-assignment is far more complex than simply deciding that you might fancy using the other loos on a night out.

[ToraToraTora]

"What a nasty post. TTT you should be ashamed of yourself. " - why is it nasty? The NHS is under enough pressure, wasting resources on this sort of thing, now that's nasty.

[Sqad]

Inappropriate response by woofgang 13.59.......it is a reasonable OP to pose.

Is gender dysphoria a medical condition OR are these people just different?
Yes we all know the mental "spin offs" from making a presumed diagnosis, but the same can be said for women who want breast reductions, breast augmentation, obesity operations and so forth.

If you believe that these people should have operations on the NHS, then people with gender dysphoria should also be offered the operation.

Is it a disease....or are they just different?

[andy-hughes]

TTT - //The NHS is under enough pressure, wasting resources on this sort of thing, now that's nasty. //

The waste of resources on 'this kind of thing ... ' depends on your perspctive relative to the issue being discussed.

I am unliely to eve require gender re-assignment surgery, but does that give me the right to deny it to others? I would suggest that it does not.

Decisions made on the allocation of NHS funds - as difficult and complex as those decisions are - are fortunately not made on the basis on the negative perceptions of individuals who deem that some treatments are less 'deserving' than others.

[andy-hughes]

TTT - //I just don't accept this whole "born in the wrong body" circus, they just seem like attention seeking sociopaths to me. XY=Man, XX=woman, in 99.999999999% of cases, no amount of gluing/chopping can change that. //

Further to my previous post - it would seem to be a good thing that you are not involved in the decision-making process then.