WIN: We’ve reached a settlement for a trans woman left in pain by the NHS

Good Law Project have got compensation for a trans woman whose surgery was cancelled because of her identity.

After years of suffering from debilitating testicular pain, Lisa was finally scheduled to have her testes removed. But the hospital cancelled her surgery at the last minute, claiming the operation was gender-affirming care that she wasn’t entitled to.

To make matters worse, the hospital offered no alternative treatment, leaving Lisa to endure pain with no medical support.

Treating gender-affirming care as an optional luxury is bad enough. But refusing pain-relieving surgery simply because of a patient’s identity is blatant discrimination. So we took legal action to hold the NHS to account, and now they’ve settled the claim.

For Lisa, this outcome brings vital relief and the chance to finally move forward.

“I’m going to use some of the funds to pay for my surgery privately,” she said. “I’ve lived with chronic pain for so many years, and I can’t wait for the struggle to finally be over.”

Lisa’s ordeal is not an isolated incident. While the NHS pledges care that is “equal and inclusive”, trans people across the UK routinely face bureaucratic roadblocks, prejudice, and outright denial of services. This systemic bias extends far beyond gender identity clinics – trans patients are often turned away from treatments for conditions completely unrelated to transition.

For Zoe Johannes, senior lawyer at Good Law Project, the fight for equal access to healthcare is far from over.

“This settlement is an important victory for Lisa. But many other trans people continue to be turned away from routine and clinically indicated procedures because of a misconceived view that they are ‘too complicated’ to treat. We want to put an end to this.”

Trans people should be able to access the same healthcare as everybody else. We’ll keep fighting to root transphobia out of the NHS.

*Lisa’s name has been changed to protect her anonymity.