NHS gender treatment for children has been based on 'remarkably weak evidence', ... trends now
Children given NHS transgender treatment have been set on a path of irreversible change despite scant medical data, a report has concluded.
NHS gender identity services for children and young people have been based on 'remarkably weak evidence', the independent review by leading paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass warned.
Her study, commissioned nearly four years ago, makes 32 recommendations to overhaul NHS trans services to improve the care that children receive.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the report and called for 'extreme caution' in treating youngsters in the future.
Former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health was appointed to lead the review in 2020
Retired consultant paediatrician Dr Cass speaking about the publication of the Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People, April 9
Dr Cass recommended a 'follow-through service' for 17 to 25-year-olds to protect teenagers 'falling off a cliff edge' in care when they hit 17
Campaigners hailed it as 'a return to common-sense decision-making'. In other developments:
■ Dr Cass said the 'toxicity of the debate' over trans care for children was 'exceptional' – and revealed she was herself singled out for criticism during her work;
■ The report said there was a 'lack of high-quality research' on the effects of giving children puberty blockers and hormones, and recommended that NHS England establish its own research programme;
■ Long NHS waiting lists were said to have driven trans children into the arms of private clinics, with GPs 'pressurised to prescribe';
■ Dr Cass laid the groundwork for schools to introduce clearer guidance when dealing with trans children, ending the exclusion of parents;
■ The report called for the creation a separate service for those wanting to 'de-transition', where a gender transition is stopped or reversed;
■ Dr Cass recommended a 'follow-through service' for 17 to 25-year-olds to protect teenagers 'falling off a cliff edge' in care when they hit 17.
■ NHS England launched a similar review of adult gender services led by an independent expert.
Dr Cass warned that her review had been hampered by how polarised the debate on trans care for children has become. She said medical professionals had been left '[too] afraid to openly discuss their views'.
Dr Cass said: 'Despite the best intentions of everyone with a stake in this complex issue, the toxicity of the debate is exceptional.
'I have faced criticism for engaging with groups and individuals who take a social justice approach and advocate for gender affirmation, and have equally been criticised for involving groups and individuals who urge more caution.
'This is an area of remarkably weak evidence, and yet results of studies are exaggerated or misrepresented by people on all sides of the debate.
'There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss
