Gender Service for Young People at Sandyford
The Young People Gender Service at Sandyford is a multi-disciplinary team who specialise in working with those under the age of 18 experiencing uncertainty or distress about their gender.
Update 5 July 2024
On the 5th July, the Chief Medical Officer issued a report for Scottish Government's consideration on the preferred service model for Young People's Gender Identity Care. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde welcome the report and will review the recommendations while awaiting the Scottish Government’s response. In the meantime, we will continue to support our young patients.
Important service update – Young Person’s Gender Service
Referrals from the Sandyford Sexual Health Services to Paediatric Endocrinology for the prescription of Puberty Suppressing Hormones have been paused for any new patients assessed by our Young Person’s Gender Service.
Patients aged 16 to 17 years old who have not been treated by Paediatric Endocrinology, but who are still seeking treatment for their gender incongruence, will no longer be prescribed gender affirming hormone treatment until they are 18 years old.
If you are already being treated by Paediatric Endocrinology and being prescribed either of these medications, you will have been contacted and advised that there will be no change to your course of treatment. You will also have been informed that you can contact your clinician if you have any concerns.
This service update follows research from NHS England and the publication of the Cass Review while we work with the Scottish Government to engage in research with NHS England that will generate evidence of safety and long-term impact for therapies.
We are committed to providing the best possible clinical care for young people accessing and understand the distress that gender incongruence can cause. While this pause is in place, we will continue to give anyone who is referred into the Young People Gender Service the psychological support that they require while we review the pathways in line with the findings. A number of support networks are also available via Mental Health Support (sandyford.scot).
If you’re waiting for an appointment with our service, please be assured that this service update won’t impact your position on the list.
Mental Health Support
If you are on the waiting list and feel mental health support would be beneficial, please see how to access mental health support.
Referral Information
New referral arrangements are now in place for our Gender Identity Services.
Our Adult Gender Service and Young People’s Gender Service will now only accept referrals from clinicians, and patients will no longer be able to self-refer.
This is to ensure patients are properly supported and placed appropriately on our waiting lists.
Gender patients will now be referred by their GP, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, or Adult Mental Health service clinician.
Please note: this update will not impact anyone who is already on waiting lists for the Young People’s Gender Service nationally or the Adult Gender Service for the West of Scotland.
The new arrangements are consistent with other clinical specialties, and will also mean patients can be advised of self-care and signposted to appropriate support while they wait for their first gender service appointment.
It will also mean our gender services will have an accurate background for each patient before their first appointment, allowing us to immediately plan the most appropriate path for their care.
Waiting list update
For the Young Person Gender Service, we are currently allocating appointments to those referred during the following period:
June 2019
Contacting the Gender Service
If your query is regarding a patient currently being seen by our service, it will be passed to the relevant clinician. However, our service is currently experiencing significant pressures, and a reply may take sometime.
If your query is regarding a person who is not currently being seen in the service, then sorry we will not be able to respond.
If your query is regarding a new referral or a patient on the waiting list, please note that due to the pressures within the service, patients are currently experiencing significant waits. We are working hard to address the challenges within our service, and we are moving as quickly as we can to recruit new staff, however we acknowledge and apologise for the stress and anxiety this might cause for any person or family/friend of a person waiting to access our service.
If you are concerned about mental health, please see how to access mental health support.
Patient Information
If you are expecting a letter regarding commencing hormone treatment or changes to your hormone schedule, please expect a wait of roughly six weeks (subject to change).
Please allow ample time when requesting a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Note that we are unable to offer any advice or support on hormones sought out from private companies.
Please remember to update your details with your GP so that your CHI number is up to date, as this can cause delays when applying for surgery
If you do not inform us that you are not able to attend, you risk being removed from the list as there are many patients waiting for appointments.
Information on Travel Expenses for Surgery
Once you have received your appointment letter from the surgical team (for either pre-surgery assessments or surgical procedure), you can contact Sandyford on our generic email: sandyford@ggc.scot.nhs.uk for further details on how to claim back travel expenses.
Already on our waiting list and need to update your details?
Please get in touch if your details have changed, especially your address. Due to the high demand for appointments within the service, we are asking patients to email any updates to the appropriate teams below:
Young People address: YoungPeopleGender.Sandyford@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Adult service address: Adultgender.Sandyford@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
If you have changed your name by deed poll, updated your CHI or email addresses please contact our mailboxes above. Please remember that we are not provided these details by your GP and rely on our patients to update us.
If you are unable to access emails, please call our main switchboard number on 0141 211 8130 and the switchboard team can update your details over the phone. If you would prefer you can also write to us at the following address for the attention of the Gender Service: Sandyford Sexual Health Service, 6 Sandyford Place, Glasgow, G3 7NB.
Please note that the service is unable to reply to enquiries on your waiting list position, however, please be assured if you have requested to join one of our waiting list’s, we will contact you when you reach the top. This also is the case for the switchboard team, and they will be unable to confirm your position.
As a paper-light service, we aim to contact patients via email first before we write to your address on file. If we have been unable to reach you within 4 weeks, we will remove you from the waiting list.