The British Public Health NHS will close its only gender identity clinic in the UK dedicated to children and youth. Instead, new regional centers will be set up to “ensure the global needs” of patients, the NHS said. The changes would follow an independent review, led by Dr. Hilary Cass, that the current model of care was leaving young people “at considerable risk” of poor mental health and distress.
The new centres, one located in London and the other in the North West of England, should be fully open in the spring of 2023 and will work closely with major children’s hospitals to … gender identity, and Where relevant, they will be linked to GPs and mental health care services.
Tavistock has faced increasing pressure in recent years. There was an increase in minors directed to the clinic and a long waiting list, but at the same time, some former staff were expressing concerns about the way it was run.
Then, former patient Keira Bell approached the court, saying she had not been questioned enough for her decision to take the drug at age 16 that started her off. infection Woman to man, a decision she later regretted.*
Earlier this year, Dr Cass reported that it was not understood why the types of patients in the clinic were changing, with an increase in men and girls seeking more autistic boys. Dr. Cass also noted that the evidence was inconclusive to support some clinical decision-making.
The Tavistock Clinic, then called the Gender and Identity Development Service (GIDS), opened in 1989 to help people under the age of 17 with gender incompatibility or dysphoria.
But in 2020, questions were raised about the service, after concerns raised by some whistleblowers and being labeled “inadequate” by inspectors, as reported by BBC Newsnight.
The NHS said the CAS review was launched in September 2020 amid increased demand, long wait times for assessments and a “significant external investigation” on GIDS’s focus and capacity.
In an interim report earlier this year, Dr Cass said:
- Rapid increase in the number of children in need of assistance And the complex case mix means that the current clinical model, with a single national provider, is not sustainable in the long term.
- We need to know more about the referred population and the results. There is no consistent and regular data collection, which means it is not possible to track the results accurately And the path that children and youth walk through service.
- there is one Lack of consensus and open discussion about the nature of gender dysphoria and, therefore, upon appropriate clinical response.
- Because specialist service has developed rapidly and systematically in response to demand, The clinical approach and overall design of the service are not subject to certain general quality checks which are generally applicable when new or innovative treatments are introduced.
According to the service’s data, the number of clinicians seeking help is 20 times higher than a decade ago, rising from 250 in 2011 to 5,000 referrals in 2021.
David Bell is a former consultant psychiatrist at the Tavistock NHS Foundation Trust, where he has raised concerns before. He said it was a “good thing” that the service had been discontinued. “There is a need for substantial funding for mental health services for children and adolescents,” he said.
He told the BBC: “Some children have the double trouble of living with the wrong treatment, and the core issues were not addressed, complex issues like trauma, depression, big examples of autism.”
* Keira Bell, who is not related to David Bell, was prescribed a puberty blocker at age 16, received a testosterone injection a year later, and had a double mastectomy at age 20.
He later changed his mind about his decision to transition and took Tavistock to court. She argued that the clinic should have questioned her more about her transition decision.
In the case of Keira Bell, the High Court ruled that children under the age of 16 lack the ability to give informed consent for treatment. This was later reversed by the Court of Appeals, which ruled that doctors could decide whether people under the age of 16 could give informed consent to the use of puberty blockers.
Bell told BBC Radio 4 World at One: “As a teenager I went through a lot of trauma. I really needed mental health support and therapy for everything I went through. Needing mental health support first Is.”
