Cancer screening is a powerful tool for preventing and catching cancer early, when treatment is most effective.
If you are trans or non-binary, routine screening remains an essential part of looking after your health. Rather than being determined by your gender identity, current cancer screening programmes are based on the body parts you currently have, any hormone therapies you use and whether your circumstances fit with the eligibility criteria which varies between screening programme.
Recently, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published updated draft guidance for health services. If you have questions about how this guidance might affect your care, or if you feel that the changes outlined in the new guidance means you will face additional barriers, the best approach is to reach out to gender specialists and speak directly with your GP.
Why medical records matter
For many trans and gender diverse people, navigating routine screening invitations can be complicated. If you have updated your gender marker on your GP records, you may be sent invitations irrelevant to your current anatomy and likewise miss vital invitations. Because of this, it is highly recommended to proactively manage your care and arrange with your GP surgery to ensure you are on the correct screening lists.
A quick guide to what you need
To find a comprehensive breakdown of your options, please download our full Screening for the Trans Community leaflet linked below. As a brief summary:
For individuals assigned female at birth:
- Cervical Screening: Anyone with a cervix aged 25-64 is entitled to and requires cervical screening, regardless of their gender marker or identity.
- Breast Screening: Screening remains important if you have breast tissue and have not undergone a full bilateral mastectomy.
For individuals assigned male at birth:
- Breast Screening: While you will not be automatically invited, taking feminising hormones for several years can increase your breast cancer risk. You can proactively discuss this with your GP to request an NHS breast screening referral.
- Cervical Screening: This specific procedure is not required for individuals who do not have a cervix.
- Population screening is not available for prostate cancer. The UK screening committee has recently made a recommendation that only those between the ages of 45 and 61, with the highest genetic risk profile (carriers of the BRCA2 variant) and a family history of either prostate, breast or ovarian cancer will be called to take part in a newly announced targeted screening programme when it is rolled out. Speak to your GP if you have a family history of prostate cancer to see if you would be eligible for genetic testing bearing in mind that it could take some time for this new initiative to be implemented.
Appointments and Support
Attending appointments can sometimes cause clinical anxiety or dysphoria. You are entirely entitled to set boundaries and request reasonable adjustments to make the experience comfortable. This can include asking for the first or last appointment slot of the day to avoid busy waiting rooms or requesting a practitioner with specific experience in trans-inclusive healthcare.
Your GP practice can help create a personalised screening plan that works for you.
