The Telegraph has claimed that trans “teenagers” are regularly undergoing sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) at NHS expense – here are the facts.
An article published on Sunday (25 May), titled “Two biological men a day given trans surgery on NHS,” claims that around £20 million in public funds has been spent on “feminising genital surgery,” including for teenagers, over the past three years.
It claims that a series of freedom of information (FOI) requests revealed that “teenagers” were among those undergoing the “irreversible” surgery.
The original version of the article also claimed that a “large proportion” of patients were under 18, but was corrected to say under 30. PinkNews has seen the original draft, which has also been archived on Reddit. It was publicly readable for at least 22 hours before it was corrected. Under-18s are not legally permitted to undergo SRS in the UK.
Other claims include that a recorded 2,071 trans women underwent the surgery from 2021 to 2023 at £10,000 per procedure, with many being 18 years old.
It then cites data regarding under-18s referred to youth gender clinics from 2011 to 2021, while using the Cass Review to highlight “concerns” that young people “with other issues such as autism and mental health problems or a history of trauma and abuse” are being misdiagnosed with gender dysphoria.
This data is entirely irrelevant, however, since the FOI data refers only to adults, not under-18s.
The Telegraph goes on to say that SRS “can cause ‘permanent infertility’” while citing complications such as a “loss of sexual function” and “dissatisfaction” with the results. Research shows, however, that the latter complication only occurs 0.3 per cent of the time.
PinkNews can confirm surgically removing the penis and testicles for the purposes of SRS would, in fact, cause infertility. Patients will have discussed this with their medical care team before any surgery takes place.
The Telegraph’s reporting on FOI data doesn’t tell the whole story
The crux of the Telegraph’s article is that several young adults are undergoing sexual reassignment surgery at taxpayers’ expense, according to FOI data it has obtained.
Through a series of requests, PinkNews has also obtained the FOI data, which was provided to the Telegraph both by healthcare nonprofit Nuffield Health and the NHS.
The Telegraph claims in its report that “47 per cent” of the procedures carried out in 2021 were under 30, with many being 18-years-old.
However, the FOI data requested by a journalist acting on behalf of the Telegraph, detailed patients referred for “female genital surgery”, not those who underwent it. The age ranges showcased in the data only refer to those under 30, meaning there is no way to know from this information alone whether the youngest patient is 18.
According to the data, 90 trans women aged 30 and under were referred for SRS in 2021, with 88 31-60 year olds and 11 61 and above patients also being referred.
In 2022, 80 patients aged 30 and below were referred for the surgery, while 112 were referred in 2023.
Another FOI request made by Claire Johnson asked the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Service (GDNRSS) to break down the age ranges of patients referred for feminising SRS from 2021 to 2023.
The data, also publicly available, forms the foundation of The Telegraph’s claim that “teenagers” are undergoing the surgical procedures.
Similar to the previous request, the data details those referred for the surgery, not those who have undergone it. Additionally, the lowest age range detailed in the data is 20 or younger; there is no feasible way to know based on this data alone whether any of the patients were 18, 19, or 20.
Regardless of whether or not The Telegraph’s claim is true, it is completely legal for anyone 18 and over to undergo sexual reassignment surgery in the UK. No “teenagers” under the age of 18 have undergone sexual reassignment surgery through the NHS.
As for The Telegraph’s claim that more than £20 million in taxpayers’ money has been spent on feminising SRS from 2021 to 2023; The NHS’s budget in the 2023/4 fiscal year was £188.5 billion. If its estimation is accurate, that amounts to 0.01 per cent of its spending in the last year alone.
Since that £20 million sum spans over three years, however, the financial impact of SRS procedures on the NHS, when combining its budgets between the 2021/2 and 2023/4 fiscal years, and ignoring COVID-19 emergency spending, amounts to just 0.0035 per cent.
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