A FORMER sailor who became a woman after sex-swap surgery has secured NHS funding to have her tattoos removed.
Tanya Bainbridge, 57, from Middleton, says she needs the é2,500 laser treatment because her tattoos are "unladylike" and she can't wear sleeveless dresses in the summer.
Middleton and Heywood Primary Care Trust has approved the funding and Tanya is waiting for a date for surgery at Charing Cross Hospital in London, where she underwent her é20,000 sex-change operation on the NHS in 2001.
It is understood that health bosses will also pick up the tab for her travel expenses.
Anger
The decision to pay for tattoo removal has angered campaigners who were forced to fight for funding to receive the potentially life-saving breast cancer wonder drug herceptin.
Radcliffe mum-of-two Amanda D'argue, who has just started herceptin treatment after a 12-month campaign, said patients should be prioritised for NHS treatment according to need.
The 39-year-old said Tanya's gender was not an issue but people should be forced to pay for tattoo removal because they were a personal choice.
"Having tattoos is a personal choice. Being diagnosed with cancer is not," Amanda said.
"Funding for life-saving treatment should take precedent over funding for cosmetic treatment.
Trusts say that the money is not there - surely there should be some sort of prioritisation."
Designs
Unemployed Tanya, who fathered nine children as Brian Bainbridge before becoming a woman, says the surgery is essential for her well-being on "psychological" grounds. She had large naval designs tattooed on her forearms during a 12-year span in the Merchant Navy from 1964 as well as other personal tattoos.
She said: "I understand that spending NHS cash on removing my tattoos might be controversial but it is essential for my well-being.
"I have suffered from depression and the tattoos are not very ladylike.
"I know there are cancer patients who can't get funding on the NHS, and I can see their side, but it is my life and I am entitled to this as much as anyone else.
"I wish I had never had my tattoos done but I can't change that now. I need to get rid of them to make me more feminine."
Depressed
Tanya lives with her partner of five years Mark Sutton, 48, in Hollins, Middleton.
He told the M.E.N. that the tattoos had made her depressed.
Mark said: "She has had a letter confirming the funding and is waiting for a date.
"She just wants rid of the tattoos. They have been depressing her and she is embarrassed.
"She wants to wear short sleeve shirts as they do not look very ladylike. She is a new person these days."
A spokesman for Middleton and Heywood Primary Care Trust said: "We are unable to comment on this case because of the Data Protection Act."
SHOULD Tanya have her tattoos removed on the NHS? Have your say.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
H, Manchester (19/04/2006 at 16:24)
naomi, hemel hempstead (19/04/2006 at 16:27)
Bjork, Manchester (19/04/2006 at 16:35)
Chris Worthington, Oldham (19/04/2006 at 17:16)
Clare, Manchester (19/04/2006 at 18:18)
Ricky G, Whitefield (19/04/2006 at 20:21)
"I understand that spending NHS cash on removing my tattoos might be controversial but it is essential for my well-being" - well its essentially to others wellbeing the money is spent elsewhere. Pay for your own tattoos to be removed - go out and get a job.
Ace Riley, manchester (19/04/2006 at 20:28)
M.Sutton, Middleton (19/04/2006 at 20:43)
Paul Smith, Chorlton (19/04/2006 at 21:01)
Obviously if Tanya is getting depressed over a couple of tattoos, the operation clearly didn't do its job and was a waste of taxpayers' money in the first place.
If we are going to keep the NHS as a publicly-funded service that is free at the point of use, we need to move away from talk of "rights" to have the treatment we WANT as opposed to what we NEED.
Giving people cosmetic surgery to help them pretend to be something that they are not should be way down the list of priorities if A&E staff are having to be laid off and cancer patients can't obtain much-needed drugs.
Frivolous nonsense like this undermines the credibility of the NHS and makes taxpayers resentful of shelling out more of their hard-earned cash and getting less in return.
oy Baenziger, Idaho USA (19/04/2006 at 21:37)
sassy, salford (19/04/2006 at 22:54)
mac, Manchester (19/04/2006 at 23:08)
Schwiiiiing....or maybe not.
how the hell can u get a 20k sex change on the NHS but can't get a tooth pulled ?
Monty, Manchester (20/04/2006 at 01:32)
Sherri, U.S. (20/04/2006 at 03:44)
Anon, Manchester (20/04/2006 at 08:18)
Elizabeth (20/04/2006 at 08:32)
Anon, Salford (20/04/2006 at 08:36)
I think that if this person wants the tattos removed they should pay for them themselves, they got them done themselves so they are self-inflicted.
I myself have tattos & wouldn't dream of asking the cash starved NHS to remove them. If this woman wants them removeld let her save up & get them done I'd rather have my NHS monesy spent on much more needy causes than something which is soley cosmetic.
The people who have ok'd this should be well & truly ashamed of themselves.
Anon, Middleton (20/04/2006 at 08:43)
jo, manc (20/04/2006 at 08:44)
Fixit, Middleton (20/04/2006 at 08:54)
Tez, Manchester (20/04/2006 at 09:02)
Disgusted, Glossop (20/04/2006 at 09:10)
Tattoo Jack, Liverpool (20/04/2006 at 09:40)
Why is she continually showing them off on the news in papers etc...
Get a grip luv for gods sake
People are dying in this world due to not enough NHS money & you are so self-centered that you can't put up with a few tattoos on your arms.
Maybe you should have thought about that when you got them done when you were a man.
Surly there is make up that can hide these for you or long sleeves...
Anon, Manchester (20/04/2006 at 09:56)
Murf, London (20/04/2006 at 10:11)
A visit to your doctor rarely produces results. General Practicioners mostly shuffle papers, they don't treat.
The hospitals are absolutely filthy compared to American hospitals. There is a lack of equipment. Care standards are often low. There is no privacy.
You wait months to see a specialist, who will, more often than not, do nothing.
So because it is PC to treat a mentally disturbed individual who wants to be a woman, not work, not support his/her children, that person now gets loads of expensive treatment that could set how many broken limbs, or treat how many real conditions?
He/She is not happy. So be it. I don't think the NHS was funded to make people feel ladylike. The UK never would have agreed to create the NHS if they knew it would come to this. The only effective treatment most people get in a timely manner is through BUPA and cash and carry private practice. When you have a serious condition, you can't wait months to see a doctor.
The whole system needs to be scrapped/reformed, then privatised. I don't have the time to type how wrong this all is, on so many levels. Having read about such things over the years I have been here, I know there will be temporary outrage. Then people will continue to put up with it. That's what Britons do.
Do you want to bet that in addition to the state having to support this "man's" nine children, he gets job seeker allowance, housing benefit, etc. How much has supporting this low life cost the UK? And to what end?
This welfare state is a big reason the empire declined. It's no longer a safety net for those in need. It's a big bag of goodies for the parasites that suck off it, and the politicians and bureaucrats that administer it. What a shame.