Number of women having breasts removed on the NHS because they identify as men has soared 50 per cent in two years

Published: 12:55 EDT, 31 October 2026 | Updated: 12:57 EDT, 31 October 2026 The number of people having gender reassignment surgery to remove their breasts has soared by 50 per cent in two years, figures show.Some 1,115 operations to remove breasts from people assigned female at birth who now identify as male took place on the NHS in 2024-2025.This is up 52 per cent compared to the 734 operations carried out in 2022-2023.More than 900 of the operations have taken place so far this financial year.Procedures are only carried out on adults that have been referred by a specialist working in an NHS England-commissioned gender identity clinic, after they have been assessed for gender dysphoria.It typically takes years from a person first approaching a medical professional with concerns of gender dysphoria to any surgery eventually taking place.Top surgery, as the operation to remove a person's breasts and reconstruct their chest is often called, is estimated to cost around £5,800 per operation – meaning the total cost to the NHS last year was as much as £6.5million per year.This accounted for just 0.003 per cent of NHS England's total budget last year, which stood at £187billion. Sinead Watson had a double mastectomy after struggling with her body image and feelings of loneliness while at university Sinead became Sean Watson (pictured) but then regretted her decision and de-transitionedThe figures, obtained by the Telegraph, also revealed a modest increase in masculinising genital surgery, or creating an artificial penis, from 270 operations in 2022-2023 to 322 in 2025-2026.Meanwhile feminising genital surgery, involving the removal of the penis and construction of an artificial vagina, fell during the same period from 420 operations to 364. In total, it is estimated the NHS spends around £21million each year on gender reassignment surgery – or 0.01 per cent of last year's budget. The surgeries have been criticised by those concerned about cases of people undergoing operations before detransitioning, and by those with gender critical views.One such case was Sinead Watson, who had a double mastectomy after struggling with her body image and feelings of loneliness while at university.She underwent the operation two years after her first appointment at a gender clinic, but quickly regretted her decision.Ms Watson previously wrote for the Daily Mail, telling how she was left 'devastated' by the results of the surgery: 'I was devastated. I was too ashamed to ever take my shirt off in public. I looked like what I was — a woman who had taken testosterone and had a double mastectomy.'She and other people who have de-transitioned have raised concerns over previous NHS practices, and questioned whether young people with gender dysphoria are given sufficient support before undergoing surgery. But members of the transgender community have also spoken out and credited surgery – with proper support – as a 'life-saving' experience.Among those to praise such surgery are actor Elliot Page, who told Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that 'life-changing' top surgery allowed him to 'feel comfortable in my body for probably the first time'.Multiple studies – including a wide-ranging research paper based on a Nottingham clinic published by the British Psychological Society – have shown that less than 1 per cent of people detransition - although some UK studies put the figure at up to 7 per cent.Gender critical organisations continue to call for gender affirming surgeries to be banned. Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at the charity Sex Matters, claimed to the Telegraph: 'These operations destroy healthy function and create a host of miserable complications, including a high likelihood of chronic pain, repeated infection and incontinence as well as sterility. 'Young trans-identifying people often have wildly unrealistic expectations of what surgery can achieve, and by the time they realise this it is too late.'The NHS should not be providing treatment that does no good and a great deal of harm. It's only a matter of time before these surgeries are looked back on with the same sort of horror as lobotomies.'The NHS says that following the wide-ranging review of adult gender services, an updated service specification is being developed for adult surgical care and will then be subject to a process of public consultation next year.