Review into Welsh transgender surgery must be quick, first minister says

A review into surgery services at Wales' only transgender clinic must be quick, First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has said.

The Welsh Gender Service paused surgery last week after concerns from an NHS committee about the number of referrals and whether they were all appropriate.

While Reform UK Wales and the Welsh Conservative Party had expressed support, Plaid Cymru had raised concerns about the decision on social media.

Plaid leader ap Iorwerth said while the committee at the heart of the row had taken the decision "for the right reason" on service quality grounds, he would be "pressing for answers" on the intervention.

Ap Iorwerth told the BBC Radio Wales Phone-In: "We have to look at this from a clinical point of view, but I absolutely feel for all those people who this has happened to very quickly."

He said the government needed "to make sure they're still being given support, there's no pausing of psychological support and so on".

"What I want is that we get a resolution quickly," he said.

"We have to take a step back from that as the clinicians look for those answers."

Ap Iorwerth added that Plaid "is very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community".

In an earlier press conference he said he "absolutely" sympathised with "a small but significant number people who are very concerned, and distressed about the pace with which this pause came about".

He also stated that the decision was taken by the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (NWJCC) and not the Welsh government.

"The [NWJCC] I have no doubt had taken the decisions for the right reasons that they believe they needed to take it for. It was their decision to take," he said.

"We want to understand from a clinical point of view what has been going on here.

He said he was "not questioning" that concerns had been raised.

NWJCC said on Tuesday that the pause in surgery, which is also carried out in England on behalf of the Welsh NHS, had been needed for "urgent clinical assurance work".

A review is being carried out in the meantime, following concerns about higher rates of referrals than in England.

The decision was so sudden that some patients found out while in hospital.

At the weekend, Plaid's Instagram account had posted concerns from a backbench party MS, Matthew Jones, who had called for the service to be reinstated.

Jones had questioned why it was a problem that referrals were higher in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Another message from Plaid said it would "press for answers" from the NWJCC, with the statement also reposted to ap Iorwerth's social media account.

Kate Hutchinson, trustee of LGBTQ+ charity Pride Cymru, was part of the consultation group that established the gender service.

She transitioned before the service existed, and said the decision to pause surgery had been "devastating".

"People were getting some resolution and this has pulled the rug from under them," she said.

"It's having a negative effect and will impact trans people's mental health and wellbeing."

She said: "The service was built with community consideration and is a lot more efficient because of that, with people managed in a timely manner."

"Accessing surgery can be life-changing for some but not everyone needs it, but the success rates are high and the regret rates really low."

"This decision sends the message that trans people are not wanted in Wales and not supported."

Reform had welcomed the decision, with its Welsh leader Dan Thomas saying that "sensible minded people in Wales will be pleased" at the pause.

Conservative MS Natasha Asghar said cancelling surgeries during a review "is absolutely the right thing to do".

The NWJCC said in a statement on Tuesday: "This is a precautionary and clinically-led step to ensure that referrals for gender surgery are supported by robust quality, safety and clinical governance arrangements."

Additional reporting by Miriam Barker