Hi there.
When I finally admitted to myself that I was transgender and not just a crossdresser I went to my doctor and said I think I may be transgender and he replied "I know you are transgender" (I had been wearing skirts for around 10 years but always told people that I just preferred them to pants) and straight away he phoned our local gender identity clinic and they gave me an appointment for in 1 month's time to the day I asked for a letter so I had proof I was transgender and living full time as female which he did straight away and gave it to me.
I left there and went home and wrote out a Deed Pole and then told all of my family who were all ok with it then sent copys of the deed pole along with copies of the doctors letter to change my driving licence, passport, bank details ECT the only one who caused a problem was PayPal who wanted something official it took me several weeks to get them to change my details, the one I expected to be a problem was the army for my pension but they changed my details without a problem even the DSS were not a problem and changed them over but due to my date of birth there was not any difference between male and female pensions or retirement dates.
My photo is from when I first came out June 2012 but since then I have gained around 10 Kg.
I think it just depends on who you deal with, as my doctor was quite young and only just out of training he knew the new rules relevent to gender identity and did not try to cause delays in getting me a appointment with the GIC (gender identity clinic) unlike most other people I have heard of.
The clinic had me wait for 6 months until they put me on HRT I went for an appointment to see if I could have gender reassignment and was told I could I had the funds from my local NHS area but I had to lose around 15 Kg but due to my disability I could not loose anything and even gained more weight so I will just have to stay the way I am which does not bother me much I am happy with the way I am.
regards Poppy Ann