Written question WQ88847
- Asked by
- Joel JamesConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Health and Social Services
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 9 days
Question
What comparative assessment has the Welsh Government made between England and Wales of the availability of gender-affirming surgery follow-up healthcare?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Health and Social Services
Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee (WHSSC) commissions all gender reassignment surgery through NHS England. The Wales Gender Service refers individuals to the appropriate surgical team when they fulfil eligibility criteria and are ready to proceed from a health and psychosocial perspective. The criteria used are NHS-wide and are based upon authoritative clinical guidelines developed with input from people with lived experience.
Responsibility of surgical follow-up would lie with the surgical team until the patient is fit for discharge. Where the individual is in receipt of other interventions such as hormonal therapies, their care would continue with the Welsh Gender Service throughout this period and afterwards until they are ready to be discharged to the Local Gender teams once their hormonal therapy is stabilised.
Gender reassignment surgery is commissioned through NHS England and we would expect the availability of follow-up health care to be the same as the service is provided in England.