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

Hormones can delay puberty and give the child time to decide. Pre-puberty, suicide rates are lower as the person has not been forced to grow into a body that they do not identify with.
This causes no long term damage to the person, and normal puberty begins if they choose to stop taking the hormones.
It gives them time to decide.
Surgery is not usually, if ever, an option for someone pre-puberty- and the hormones are not transitional, as they have not actually developed the body of their gender.
I studied this with someone who works for a prominent trans charity, and he was massively in favour of letting children delay their puberty if they strongly believed that they were trans.

A very good question, and actually also a debated point.
If we're considering the same level of negative outcomes, and no alternative counselling were appropriate or indicated by evidence - I wonder whether this mental distress would warrant surgery.

I think the best kind of study would directly compare two large groups of transgenders. Ones that have received surgery and the other which has received an alternative treatment option.

I know it already exists on the Nhs but is it appropriate or is it a waste of money?

The cost for male to female reassignment is $7,000 to $24,000. The cost for female to male reassignment can exceed $50,000.

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The total cost of gender reassignments is ridiculous compared to cancer treatments.

That would be highly unethical (and fwiw "transgenders" is not a polite way to refer to trans people - trans and transgender is a verb not a noun, the equivalent would be to refer to "blacks" or "gays" or "disableds". Especially to withhold treatment from "large numbers" of trans people considering there are very small numbers undergoing transition at any point.

WPATH has been collating evidence and efficacy of treatment since 1979 to inform it's Standards of Care guidelines. Their entire reason for existing is to find the safest and most effective treatments for trans people. https://amo_hub_content.s3.amazonaws.com/Association140/files/Standards%20of%20Care,%20V7%20Full%20Book.pdf

Which "alternative treatment option" would you advocate?

I'm not saying no treatment. An alternative to surgery, perhaps more therapy + family therapy. (I mean people want to remove the need for therapy before surgery , which is just ) Treatment for a possible underlying issue; maybe they are intersex, or have another mental health issue? I think some research needs to be done ultimately, to come up with alternatives to surgery. Also, side note: I think it should be noted that men who "feel like a woman" for example, might want to transition to female because feminine men aren't exactly accepted with open arms, so I guess dresses, make-up, etc. =/= make you a woman is what I'm trying to say + society should be more tolerant of effeminate men.

I'm no doctor, I advocate nothing. I'm just saying the current system needs to be changed.

Don't people continue to kill themselves at astonishingly high rates afterwards?

To be frank it sounds like you don't really understand what the current system is.

I don't? Just because I disagree with it, I must not know it?

No - and not on the NHS. Like others have said, they are a tiny portion of the general population and it is unfair to have the state spend tonnes of money on surgery for a mentally deluded person. A Swedish study has shown that the rate of suicide is still very high for those after "the op" when compared to the general population. So clearly, surgery isn't the answer, these people need help and support of a psychological manner. And the money being spent on the gender reassignment surgery is a huge waste, which could be better spent on mental health provisions for the country. In the case that one is adamant on the surgery (after therapy and after seeing mental health professionals, I'm talking at least 2 years of it), then they can pay for it themselves.

The aforementioned study: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

Everything you're suggesting "as an alternative" is already part of the WPATH SOC and NHS guidelines for trans people.

So yes it does sound like you don't understand what currently happens when you suggest the current process as "an alternative"

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I think the best kind of study would directly compare two large groups of transgenders. Ones that have received surgery and the other which has received an alternative treatment option.

An interestingly transphobic reading of that paper , but that does seem to be common factor in those who wish to erase trans people from society

a paper published 5 years ago using data from at it;s newest 13 years ago and going back over 50 years ...

I also think you need to understand the pathway , and the post transition factors at play

also the overall budget for GICs and GRS is change down the back of the sofa ( £22 million ish out of a £100 billion) ... also the implication that somehow beigntrans can be cured by psychological therapies sounds rather like the discredited 'conversion therapy' much beloved the religious right .

for someone who asserts to be close to the issue interesting use of slur words there ...

Because anyone who disagrees with SRS is transphobic.

Considering they followed the subjects for 30 years, I'm not sure if the study could've been done much later

Money better spent elsewhere if you ask me.

Because cis people also commit suicide - dysphoria isn't the only reason for suicide

Because trans people even post transition face discrimination and bigotry and hatred

Because transphobia in mental health care is common and so trans people seeking help for depression or other mental illness unrelated to their transition are often denied care (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/07/09/feature-the-dangers-of-trans-broken-arm-syndrome/ )

What level of suicide rate among post-transition people would you accept?

Actually no. One of my family members took so many treatments that made her worse to the point where it killed her so please don't tell me if a cancer patient refuses furthur treatment they'll die.

It's stupid to say the first thing you said which solely related to chemo and made no mention as to surgery, radio therapy etc.

No it's not especially funny, if you actually knew what drugs are used in Chemo you'd know that calling it poison is about as accurate a description as possible. I never once said nor implied it doesn't save lives, don't make up ********.

might help if you actually understood the pathway in the NHS and the wider international evidence and consensus in the WPATH guidelines ...