Welcome to the Northern Region Gender Dysphoria Service (NRGDS). We’ve put a range of information and resources together to try and answer your questions and help you to find sources of support and guidance.

If you still can’t find an answer to your question or you would like to provide feedback on the service, please contact us.

How to contact us
The best way to contact the service is by email

nrgds@cntw.nhs.uk

A national review of NHS clinics has recently been completed. We want to reassure you that there are no recommendations to close any clinics, and your care will continue as normal. The report focuses on improving services across the whole system, including reducing waiting times and enhancing patient experience.

We remain committed to providing safe, high-quality care and will work closely with NHS partners to make improvements where needed.

On Wednesday 16 April 2025, Supreme Court judges ruled that the legal definition of ‘woman’ is based on biological sex for the purpose of the Equality Act 2010. We understand that this ruling will have a significant emotional impact on some people.

First, we want to reassure you that the Northern Region Gender Dysphoria Service is not changing or closing as a result of this ruling.

It is also important to note that the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Equality Act protects trans people against discrimination, based on Gender Reassignment, and will continue to do so.

The NHS will need to take the time to digest the full implications of the ruling and to understand what this will mean on both legal and practical levels.

However, in the meantime, there will be no immediate impact on the care or services we provide. The ruling does not affect our commitment to support the rights of trans people and there are no changes to CNTW Gender Identity Services.

It’s also important that you still attend all your healthcare appointments and any health screenings as usual.

Here in CNTW, we remain committed to ensuring an inclusive approach to our model of care and support, the support we give to our workforce, and enabling and defending the rights of all of our people and the people we serve.

These files may not be fully accessible. If you use assistive tools like a screen reader and need a more accessible format, please email communications@cntw.nhs.uk

If a supply issue occurs with a long-acting injectable formulation of testosterone; such as Sustanon, or Testosterone Enantate in the first instance try and source whichever is in supply at a local level of either Sustanon or Testosterone Enantate as these can be used at equivalent doses and intervals.

In the rare instance that Sustanon and Testosterone Enantate cannot be sourced a gel preparation may be needed for an interim period. The gel should be started on the day an injection is due, and it is recommended that a starting dose of Tostran at 40mg once daily is acceptable, and the dose can be adjusted depending on blood test results.

If Tostran cannot be sourced, use the equivalence table above for any preparation you can source. For a 40mg equivalent in Testogel sachets, it would be one 40.5mg sachet daily for example.

GCLS Survey

This GCLS report* is part of ongoing wider research on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and their applications to transgender health services. The research aims to investigate PROMs’ potential to assess the quality of care given by transgender services, from the perspective of service users. As of yet, no conclusions have been drawn on the GCLS or the research project at large due to its ongoing nature. This report has been published on the NRGDS website in the interests of transparency.

* This file may not be fully accessible.
If you use assistive tools like a screen reader and need a more accessible format, please email communications@cntw.nhs.uk