The NHS Trust at which the surgeon responsible for the bulk of male-female gender reassignmentThe process by which an individual reassigns their gendered appearance. surgeries in the UK is based, has confirmed that he will be replaced after resigning.
PinkNews received calls from concerned readers at the announcement by James Bellringer, who currently takes on the majority of vaginoplastyA gender-affirming, feminizing, lower surgery to create a vagina and vulva (including mons, labia, clitoris, and urethral opening) and inverting the penis*, scrotal sac and testes. work for the NHS in the UK, alongside one other surgeon.
Based at Charing Cross hospital, Mr Bellringer took on most of the surgeries, with fellow Surgeon Phil Thomas working one day a week there.
Mr Thomas has a private practice in Sussex, and works a day job as an NHS consultant urological surgeon.
Mr Bellringer has a private practice in Wimbledon.
Some had voiced concern over what would happen once Mr Bellringer left Charing Cross Hospital, speculating over whether those seeking the surgery would be referred directly to the private practices, as the NHS in Scotland currently does.
The Trust has confirmed to PinkNews that there is a plan in place, and that Mr Bellringer will be replaced once he leaves his position in April.
A spokesperson for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: “The Trust has committed to continuing to provide a gender reassignmentThe process by which an individual reassigns their gendered appearance. service, and we aim to appoint a surgeon in April after James Bellringer leaves the Trust”.
Sarah Brown, Lib Dem councillor in Cambridge said: “I very much hope this won’t cause disruption for trans• Trans is an umbrella term used to describe people whose lives appear to conflict with the gender norms of society. Whether this is in their clothing, in presenting themselves or undergoing hormone treatment and surgery. Being trans does not imply any specific sexual orientation.
• Trans is an umbrella term that describes a wide range of people whose gender and/or gender expression differ from their assigned sex and/or the societal and cultural expectations of their assigned sex; includes people who are androgyne, agender, bigender, butch, CAFAB, CAMAB, cross-dresser, drag king, drag queen, femme, FTM, gender creative, gender fluid, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, gender variant, MTF, pangender, questioning, trans, trans man, trans woman, transfeminine, transgender, transmasucline, transsexual, and two-spirit.
women accessing vaginoplastyA gender-affirming, feminizing, lower surgery to create a vagina and vulva (including mons, labia, clitoris, and urethral opening) and inverting the penis*, scrotal sac and testes. through England’s main gender• However gender is far more complicated. It is the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology), one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviours (gender expression) related to that perception, including their gender role. Together, the intersection of these three dimensions produces one’s authentic sense of gender, both in how people experience their own gender as well as how others perceive it.
• Gender is expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity. It is largely culturally determined and is assigned at birth based on the sex of the individual. It affects how people perceive themselves and how they expect others to behave.
• Socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and trans people.
clinic at Charing Cross.”
(c) 2005 – 2014 PinkNews.co.uk http://PinkNews.co.uk All rights reserved.