Revealed: More than 1,000 patients a year have trans ‘top surgery’ on the NHS

More than 1,000 patients a year are sent for transgender “top surgery” on the NHS.

Data obtained by The Telegraph show for the first time the number of referrals for taxpayer-funded “masculinising” mastectomies from specialised gender clinics.

As many as 80 per cent of people using those services are females between the ages of 17 and 25.

The 1,000-plus referrals could be the tip of the iceberg, because many people have transgender surgery privately to bypass long NHS waiting lists.

A search for “top surgery UK” on the GoFundMe platform brings up hundreds of results.

The NHS faces calls to halt the surgeries. Experts warn there is no evidence that removing healthy breasts is beneficial for those with gender dysphoria – but there is evidence of harm.

A number of detransitioners have spoken publicly about their regret at rushing to have irreversible surgery, and the pain caused.

Zhenya Abbruzzese, co-founder and senior adviser at the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM), said: “We are concerned that young people are being told that these procedures will relieve their distress when the research cannot find the benefits, but the harms of losing a functioning body part are certain.

“Doctors need an urgent memo about the actual state of the evidence. But this is a question primarily for health authorities to decide – should the treatment be available given the risk-benefit ratio and the evident risk of harm?”

The data, obtained using freedom of information laws, show that the NHS’s Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Services (GDNRSS) referred 3,490 women for “masculinising chest surgery” between 2021 and 2023.

The number has risen slightly each year, from 1,089 in 2021 to 1,164 in 2022 and 1,237 in 2023.

Of the 10 NHS hospitals carrying out the operations, North Manchester Hospital had the highest number of referrals. It was followed by Parkside Hospital in London and Castle Hill Hospital in Hull.

GNDRSS deals with all referrals for specialised gender surgery for people over the age of 17.

Over three years, it also sent more than 780 women for “masculinising genital gender reassignment surgery”, also known as “bottom surgery”.

Concerns over specialised adult gender clinics were investigated by Dr Hilary Cass, who noted in her 2024 review that their patients were “70-80 per cent birth-registered females under the age of 25”.

A recent systematic review of mastectomies for gender dysphoria, led by McMaster University and published by the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, found there was “very low certainty evidence” for their outcomes.

Ms Abbruzzese said: “It is extremely unusual for there to be a surgical intervention when there are so many unknowns.

“We don’t know why so many more young women are identifying as trans and we don’t know what the future holds for these young people if we just slow down.

“In that situation, medical intervention that is so irreversible and with clear harms typically would not normally be offered.

“The systematic review has found that despite several decades of doing this surgery, and over 1,300 studies published, there is no evidence that it improves mental health and overall functioning.”

Concerns about the number of operations carried out by the NHS were also raised by parents of children who think they are transgender.

A spokesman for Bayswater Support Group said: “There is a particular cruelty for parents in finding that taxpayers are funding mastectomies on thousands of women who have been misled into believing this will be the answer to their psychological distress.

“The devastation of seeing your daughter harmed in this way is impossible to describe.”

An NHS spokesman said: “Masculinising chest surgery is only available to adult patients who have a clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist NHS clinic.

“The NHS is undertaking a wide-ranging review of adult gender services, which will inform a revised service specification to set out how we will support patients with gender dysphoria in future.”