Shared Care agreements are agreements made between private gender specialists in the UK and your GP. For trans related healthcare this is most often used whilst patients are on the NHS Gender Identity Clinic waiting list co cut hormone prescription costs down – so you’ll pay an NHS prescription cost rather than a private prescription cost for your hormones and to avoid the monger wait times before starting hormones. With a shared care agreement, you’ll usually have blood tests with your GP every 2-3 months to monitor your Testosterone levels which is then passed onto your private endocrinologist to make sure everything is ok. They will monitor your Testosterone levels and usually also your lipid profile and liver function results and advise if there needs to be any changes to your dose. Although current legislation by the General Medical Council (GMC) states that Shared Care is something a GP should agree to, it’s useful to find a local trans friendly GP by talking to your community, as some GPs can still be reluctant to help due to lack of experience with transgender patients. The published General Medical Council (GMC) advice states that: “If you’re a GP you should collaborate with a Gender Identity Clinic (GMC) and an experienced gender specialist to provide effective and timely treatment for your trans patients.” “The NHS should not withdraw NHS care because a patient chooses to buy private care, nor should patients who access private care be placed at an advantage or disadvantage in relation to the NHS care they receive.” When you go to your GP it’s handy to know your stuff and be prepared to do some of the leg work yourself. Good luck!