HealthInfo West Coast-Te Tai Poutini
Gender-affirming health services on the West Coast
The following services are available on the West Coast through the public health system. You can ask your GP or practice nurse how to access these services and how soon you can expect an appointment.
- Endocrinology (hormone) services: Puberty blockers and feminising and masculinising hormones (cross-sex hormones).
- Counselling and psychological support.
- Mental health assessment (readiness for hormones).
- Voice therapy or training.
- Fertility preservation (sperm storage).
- Surgical services: Top surgery (mastectomy), orchidectomy (removal of the testicles), hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) and breast augmentation.
Services not available on the West Coast through the public health system
These services aren't yet available on the West Coast through the public health system. You can ask your GP or nurse if it's possible to access these services privately, in other New Zealand centres, or overseas.
You should also ask about the implications of travelling overseas for treatment, including ACC coverage, post-operative follow up, and so on.
- Hair removal and laser skin treatment.
- Fertility preservation (egg storage).
- Surgical services: Bottom surgery (vaginoplasty and phalloplasty).
Private services
There are no private services available on the West Coast but the following private services are available in Canterbury.
- Endocrinology (hormone) services: Puberty blockers and feminising and masculinising hormones (cross-sex hormones).
- Counselling and psychological support.
- Laryngeal shave (to reduce your Adam's apple).
- Mental health assessment (readiness for hormones).
- Fertility preservation (sperm and egg storage).
- Surgical services: Top surgery (mastectomy), orchidectomy (removal of the testicles), hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) and breast augmentation.
Name and gender marker changes in your health records
You can ask your health professionals to use your preferred name, gender and pronouns. You don’t have to prove that you've transitioned or have changed your name legally to do this. It's enough to ask.
You can also get prescriptions, test results and correspondence from health professionals in your preferred name, gender and title. To do this, you need to ask for the National Health Index (NHI) to be updated. Your GP practice can do this for you. There's no cost to make this change.
While many health information systems are integrated, occasionally records won't get updated correctly. This is often a genuine mistake. If you update your name and gender marker in your health records and keep getting correspondence with wrong details, speak to your practice nurse, GP or other health professional. They'll try to correct it.
Changes to services
The services available in the West Coast public health system may change over time. Check with your GP, specialists and peer support networks.
You're welcome to send feedback if there's any missing or out-of-date information about gender-affirming services on this page.
Written by Ko Awatea gender-affirming care co-design group. Adapted by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Page created May 2019.
SourcesImage courtesy of The Gender Spectrum Collection.
Review key: HISOG-53214
