Gender Service
Sandyford offers a comprehensive gender service available to young people who are uncomfortable or uncertain about their gender identity or expression, and adult transgender and non-binary people who are considering feminising or masculinising treatment.
Service Update
Since 2013 there has been an unprecedented increase in referrals to our service. Our service funding has remained unchanged, and this has meant that unfortunately demand far outweighs capacity. It has also become increasingly difficult to recruit to the service with some posts remaining vacant despite having funding for these.
The service primarily assists people who are transgender to facilitate medical and surgical treatments, enabling greater comfort in the face of gender non-conformity.
Location Information
We will only accept patients living within the following health boards:
- Greater Glasgow & Clyde
- Ayrshire & Arran
- Forth Valley
- Lanarkshire
- Tayside
- Western Isles
- Dumfries and Galloway
Please note that there are other providers in Lothian, Grampian, Highland and Tayside which may be more suitable for your location. For more information and contact details for these clinics, please click here.
Waiting List Information
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For the adult service we are currently offering initial appointments to people who registered with the service in May 2018
- For the young peoples’ service we are currently offering initial appointments to people who registered with the service in May 2019
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In 2021 we have had 499 Young Person referrals and 711 Adult referrals
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In 2022 there have been 429 Young person referrals, and 502 Adult referrals
If there has been a change to your contact details, please ensure that you notify the service as due to the long wait since referrals, it is proving difficult to contact some patients when they reach the top of the list. We thank you for your continued patience.
Contacting the Gender Service
All initial enquiries should be raised via email to our adult gender team or young people gender team and a member of the team will get back to you shortly.
Please provide us with your full name (or name you have registered with at the service) along with your date of birth and address. This will help us to deal with your enquiry more efficiently.
Our telephone lines are open from 8:30am - 11:30am Monday - Friday. Phone lines should be used for urgent matters, amending or cancelling current bookings only. You can contact the adult gender service on 0141 211 8137 and 0141 211 8618 for the young person's service. Any alternative reasons for contacting the gender team, we ask that you email.
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.
Referral Information
We accept self-referrals and referrals from other service providers (e.g. your GP or a key support worker).
Adult Gender Service
If you are over the age of 17, and wish to self-refer in to the Adult Gender Service please email with the information below.
Young People's Gender Service
If you are a young person below the age of 17, or the parent of a young person who wishes to register with the Young People's Gender Service, please email with the information below, using your child's details if you are a parent. There is no lower age limit to register with this service and we take referrals from all over Scotland.
Mental Health Support
We understand that some people waiting for our service may be struggling with their mental health. If you think you are at risk of seriously harming yourself, please speak to your GP who can help you get the right sort of support.
For more support you can contact Samaritans by phoning 116 123 any time of day, any day of the year, or online.
Breathing Space is another great resource that offers free, confidential phone services for anyone in Scotland experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety. You can phone on 0800 83 85 87 from 6pm-2am on weekdays, or 24 hours at the weekends.
For young people, Childline offers support via the phone on 0800 1111 or online.
Notice to Patients
- 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
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 address for further details on how to claim back travel expenses.