Crisis-hit Welsh gender service cancelled 60 surgeries this year, health minister says
The Welsh health minister has said the Welsh Gender Service cancelled 60 surgeries this year, as the crisis-hit service faces an independent review over high referral rates.
The Welsh health minister has said the Welsh Gender Service cancelled 60 surgeries this year, putting a figure on the disruption at the crisis-hit clinic, the BBC reported.
The service’s surgical pathway was paused on 28 August, when the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (NWJCC) — which commissions NHS adult gender services across all seven Welsh health boards — ordered referrals and scheduled operations to stop while an independent clinical review is carried out. Hundreds of patients had surgery or surgical assessments paused, with some only learning of the decision after arriving at hospital.
The pause followed concerns that the Welsh service was referring patients for gender-affirming surgery at a far higher rate than elsewhere in the UK: The Times reported that about 17 per cent of the 4,900 referrals for gender-related surgery across the UK in 2024 and 2025 came from the Welsh Gender Service, despite Wales accounting for less than 5 per cent of the UK population. Referrals ran at about 13 per 100,000 people in Wales, compared with an average of three per 100,000 in England.
Appointments to the independent clinical review panel have been made and its work was expected to begin on 21 September, with the NWJCC saying the review of 60 patients due surgery between August and the end of the year will take until the end of December.
Addressing the Senedd, Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter called the decision to pause the surgeries “ill-thought-out and callous”, saying his inbox had been flooded with messages from trans people left in limbo. Other elements of the service — including hormone therapy support, endocrine review and psychological support — continue to operate, the NWJCC has said.
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