Should trans people be allowed to receive free reassignment surgery on the NHS?

No, because it's not necessary like cancer treatment or treatment for mental disorders. Just because someone 'feels' that they are a woman doesn't mean that the taxpayer should pay for them to get their junk cut off. There is still debate as to what the best treatment is for gender identity disorder, as far as I've heard.

They absolutely should.

I am honestly shocked at the callous disregard of the suffering trans people endure in this thread. First off, it's factually inaccurate to say that it's not a 'real problem.' A gender identity which does not match biological sex is the cause of a whole plethora of mental illnesses, like depressions, anxiety, etc. Are you dismissing these as 'not a real problem' too? Should people with depression have to pay for their own treatment as well?

In a compassionate society such as ours, it is our duty to care for the most vulnerable in our society. 41% of transgender people have attempted suicide. (Source: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf) Gender reassignment surgery has noticeable impacts on improved quality of life. (Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20461468)

Denying trans people access to treatment is inhumane, and dismissing their issues as 'not liking how they look' is an opinion that belongs in another century.

There are people with life threatening conditions laying in corridors at some NHS hospitals, this really isn't a priority. If the NHS is to support treatments like that it would have to expand into the private sector (which I fully support!) but as long as the NHS only covers the public sector and uses taxpayers money I don't support treatments of such kind.

I'm not sure I think I am leaning more towards no they should pay for it themselves and not get it free when the money could be better spend on improving the health care in hospitals. Some people might say that they should because they might suicide or depression which with the depression will cause problems and cost money however even after they had the cosmetic surgery they still have to keep taking drugs and more problems can arise so in the long term it is costing maybe that bit more than not offering it free

put your Heily Fail down and stop listening to the coalition of bigotry.

the budget for the GICs , medical treatment and surgical treatment or gender dysphoria is change from down the back of the sofa compared to NHS budget as a whole , just like the lies told to beleavers people don;t realise the actual magnitude of NHS spending ( and the spending on healthcare in the developed world - excluding the US which by many measures is now a 3rd world country )

there are far more obvious targets to address in terms of better use of NHS resources and without 'cutting' anything except the flow of gravy into the trough various lay managers have their snouts firmly embedded.

I guess no. There should be some way however if people who cannot afford the surgery and really need it to appeal. There are much more life thereatining illnesses that need to be priority. Not having the surgery may lead some to commit suicide but the illness itself is not killing the individual like cancer for example. I think psychiatric help should be given first but if it's not enough then they should be rendered for surgery and as mentioned before if they can't afford it they should appeal.

I'm quite shocked at some of the replies on here, personally I'm divided. It is possible to get things like boob jobs and tummy tucks on the NHS if you can prove it's severely affecting your mental health (I personally know two people who have achieved this.) I think that gender identity problems are much worse than being flat chested or a little fat, while all can lead to other serious health issues there isn't really much help out there for trans people so who can they talk to? It's lonely and it can lead to all sorts of other emotions and health issues, to me its just like 'imagine knowing you're living in a body that isn't really yours' because that's the truth of it. But I would say that surgery should only be given on the NHS for someone who is serious and is diagnosed. You have to pay for the hormones before your surgery unless diagnosed by a certified physciatrist, so why should you pay for the actual surgery?