The Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has recently announced that the Welsh Gender Service will be temporarily pausing referrals for gender-affirming surgeries until a clinical review of the service is completed. This comes at the request of the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (NWJCC), who wish to investigate the service’s referral and assessment processes.
The Welsh Gender Service was formed in 2019 and is located at the St David’s Hospital in Cardiff, Wales, overseen by the Cardiff and Vale University Board.
In a statement published on August 28, the Board explained, “Concerns have arisen from referral data from 2025-26 indicating significantly higher rates of referral for gender affirming surgery from the Welsh Gender Service compared with English gender services.”
The pause will affect patients seeking a referral as well as those who are currently scheduled. This leaves many trans and non-binary individuals who have already endured long waiting times in a state of limbo until the NWJCC finds the operations of the Welsh Gender Service satisfactory. According to WeAreQueerAf, “the waiting list for a first appointment with the WGS is two years”. At the moment, there is no confirmed schedule for when the pause will be undone.
The Cardiff and Vale University Health Board continued, “We understand that many patients may have questions about what this announcement means for their care. If you have questions or concerns, or need some support, please contact us via email: [email protected]”. The pause will not impact the provision of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), endocrine review services, psychological support or speech and language therapy by the Welsh Gender Service.
The Board acknowledged “that this announcement may be concerning for patients, their families, staff and the wider community” and committed to “providing clear, factual and timely information about what this means and the support available.” They also listed three organisations that can provide additional support to those who may need it, including Umbrella Cymru, Switchboard and Samaritans.
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Responding to the news, UK-based organisation TransActual described being “deeply concerned”.
“Trans people using their service are now left without any NHS pathway to receiving the surgical care they need, in an extraordinary violation of NHS Wales’ duties as a provider of care.”
The group said the decision is having a “cruel impact” on trans people’s lives, adding, “Given the predictable harms this will cause, and in the absence of any better justification, it’s difficult to understand this as anything other than caving to ideological pressure”.
“Making this harmful decision without extremely compelling evidence to support it is an appalling failure of governance and demonstrates a clear disregard for trans patients’ wellbeing.”
This news represents a wider decline in gender-affirming care in the UK, as puberty blockers were banned for under-18s in England and Northern Ireland in 2024.
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