Private healthcare providers

What is private healthcare?

Private healthcare is healthcare provided outside of the NHS. Many trans+ people choose this route due to the long NHS gender identity services waiting lists.

You have the right to access private healthcare services.

Private healthcare is provided by:

• the independent sector
• private patient units within NHS premises

You are responsible for the fees, which may mean you pay for them yourself or claim reimbursement through medical insurance or a workplace health scheme. Not all insurance policies cover trans+ transition-related healthcare, so it is essential to read and understand any policy you hold carefully.

There are various private providers in England, and we have compiled a list of some of them at the bottom of this page.

The regulation of private care in England

When a service is regulated, it means there is formal oversight to ensure safety, quality, and accountability.

This can include:

• licensing of practitioners
• standards for clinical practice
• oversight by governmental or professional bodies
• mechanisms for complaints and redress

Healthcare systems and providers based in England, whether NHS or private, are subject to regulations. Providers should act in compliance with them if applicable, and if they do not, action may be taken against them.

There are differences in regulations depending on where you access a service and the type of medical professional you are receiving care from.

Regulations are in place to ensure that service provision is safe. We encourage anyone looking to check the relevant regulations as part of their approach to choosing a provider so they know what they can expect by way of care and service provision.

If you are using a private provider in England, you should check whether it is providing a “regulated activity”. If it does, it will need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (“CQC”).

Being registered with the CQC means the provider has demonstrated compliance with the relevant regulatory requirements.

You can check registered gender services in England on the CQC website.

Individual regulation

• In the UK, doctors are regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC), and nurses and midwives are regulated by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).
• These statutory regulators set the standards of education, training and professional conduct, maintain the official registers of who may practise, and investigate concerns about fitness to practise.
• Their role is to protect patients and uphold confidence in the professions, while inspection of hospitals and clinics themselves is carried out separately by bodies such as the CQC.

You have the right to verify a professional’s status.

Both the GMC and the NMC make their registers public: see the GMC’s public register and the NMC’s public register.

Private clinics outside the UK

EU-based healthcare systems

You do not have to access treatment in England. You can obtain healthcare services from other countries if you want or need to.

It’s important that you are aware that EU member states have separate regulatory frameworks for healthcare from those found in England. It is not accurate to automatically describe these services as “unregulated” because a service provider is not based in England.

Regulation exists outside of England, and it may differ in terms of infrastructure and implementation. For example, a significant difference is that EU healthcare is ‘decentralised’:

• Each state regulates its own healthcare system.
• There isn’t a single EU “NHS-style” entity, and standards and approaches may vary.

The NHS is often perceived as a single, unified system with centralised governance, which makes it easy to see “regulation” as a single national standard.

We encourage anyone looking abroad to carry out thorough research and ensure the pathway they choose is right for them and safe to use.

If you are looking to access healthcare in an EU country, you can:

• contact the country’s National Contact Point (NCP) and ask any questions you may have about medical treatment in that country, such as the relevant regulations of the service provider and individual professional.
• explain that you are a non-EU resident seeking information about accessing healthcare in their country. You can specify that you are looking at private providers as well as your anticipated funding arrangement, if known.
• also request links to relevant regulations, laws, licensing authorities, and complaint procedures.

You may be using a service provider that can already provide you with information on the relevant area of regulation.

Why this distinction matters

Mislabeling EU healthcare as generally “unregulated” can lead to:

• Misunderstanding of patient safety standards: EU patients are still protected and have a right to receive safe healthcare.
• Inaccurate comparisons: regulation isn’t only about centralisation, but about enforceable professional and institutional standards.
• Policy or media bias: it can wrongly suggest that NHS regulation is inherently superior.

Returning to NHS care after private treatment in the UK or abroad

Here is an overview of the official NHS England guidance on transitioning between private and NHS care in the UK, so you are aware of what’s allowed and what to expect:

1. Your NHS entitlements remain intact

Choosing any form of private healthcare does not affect your eligibility for NHS care. You will remain entitled to free NHS treatment based on clinical need.

Formal guidance summarises that:

• NHS organisations should not withdraw NHS care simply because a patient chooses to buy additional private care.
  Any additional private care must be delivered separately from NHS care.
• The NHS must never charge for NHS care (except where there is specific legislation in place to allow charges) and the NHS should never subsidise private care.
• The NHS should continue to provide all care free of charge that the patient would have been entitled to had they not chosen to have additional private care.
• NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts should have clear policies in place, aligned with these principles, to ensure the effective implementation of this guidance within their organisations. This includes protocols for working with other NHS or private providers where the NHS Trust or Foundation Trust has chosen not to provide additional private care.

2. You can move between private and NHS care at any time

NHS national elective access policy allows patients to move between private and NHS care during their treatment without prejudice (see para 2.7).

3. How NHS re-entry works

Patients can transfer their care from private to NHS as per the NHS Constitution:

• Your entitlement to access NHS care should not be affected by a decision by a patient to fund part or all of their healthcare needs privately.
• You’ll be assessed and placed on NHS waiting lists according to clinical need – just like any other NHS patient.
• Your time spent in private care doesn’t give you priority in NHS queues.

4. RTT (Referral to Treatment) “clock” rules

If you have already started an NHS treatment path and then opt for private care, your NHS RTT “clock” is stopped if you notify the NHS trust.

It is unclear whether your position in the queue will be maintained. We would encourage anyone navigating the care systems in this way to seek direct guidance from your provider before making a decision.

5. Strict separation between NHS and private care

The private and NHS components of a single treatment episode must remain clearly separate, in terms of time, location, personnel, and financing.

6. Private prescriptions and shared care arrangements

If you receive a consultation or prescription via a private provider, GPs should remain impartial and separate NHS care from private services to avoid conflict of interest.

See more information on Shared Care Arrangements.

What this means in practice

• You are entitled to NHS care, even after private treatment.
• “Switching” is allowed, but you’ll re-enter NHS systems via referral and be treated like any NHS patient.
• Treatments must be kept separate, in location and funding.
• Private care doesn’t give you ‘priority’, and can’t influence NHS waiting lists.

Some service providers

We have listed some private providers below who help transgender and non-binary individuals in various ways.

Some of these providers also see patients outside of England, you can make your own enquiries in this regard.

You’ll also notice that many of these services use clinicians outside of England, such as in Europe. Please see our section above regarding EU-based providers.

Several of the services listed below offer a diagnosis service only, and then refer you to another provider for the actual prescription. You must speak to individual providers and ask what they can and cannot do for you. This will include pricing, services, the guidelines they follow, waiting times and other considerations such as accessibility and location.

We do not endorse any of the providers listed below, except for our own, Anne.

We have not reviewed each provider from a regulatory perspective. Therefore, we recommend that you conduct your own research and contact the service before paying any money to ensure that they will fulfil your requirements and care for you in a way that makes you happy and confident. We hope the information provided on this page will assist you in doing so.

If in doubt, remember you have the right to ask for information in a way that you understand.

Service providers

• Anne
• Dignity Gender Assessments
• Eden New Life
• GenderCare
• Gender Doctors
• GenderGP
• Gender Identity South West
• GenderPlus
• Harley Street Gender Clinic
• Imago
• Pride in Health
• The Gender Clinic
• The Gender Hormone Clinic
• The Northern Gender Network
• Waterside Clinic