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The UK’s National Health Service controversial child transgender clinic will shut its doors after a damning report found it was ‘not safe’ for children.
The closure comes in response to an ongoing review led by senior paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, who warned the gender clinic was ‘not a safe or viable long-term option’.
Trans-medicine is not safe for children, says the Cass Review.
There are concerns about the ‘scarce and inconclusive evidence to support clinical decision-making’.
“Staff should maintain a broad clinical perspective in order to embed the care of children and young people with gender uncertainty within a broader child and adolescent health context,” said Cass.
The NHS received a damning report 10 days ago.
The Tavistock Gender Clinic will be replaced by regional centres at existing children’s hospitals. They will provide more holistic care with ‘strong links to mental health services.
Its closure comes after a huge rise in referrals; with more than 5,000 referrals made in the last year, compared to just a few hundred 10 years ago.
Children will not be pushed toward transitioning. Instead, their mental and emotional issues will be more thoroughly explored.
The UK is not the only country questioning gender-transitioning children at present.
Other countries are seriously reconsidering the rubber-stamping of a gender-dysphoric child’s belief and the prescribing of puberty-blocking drugs.
Sweden, Finland and France are all pulling back from the rush to transition gender-dysphoric children.
France acknowledges part of the issue causing concern has been the exponential increase in cases.
Concerns about the sharp rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) are also bubbling.
In the UK, for example, there were more than 5,000 referrals last year. There were just a few hundred 10 years ago.
Transition ideologues were also accused of pushing autistic children to transition in the UK.
The lack of knowledge about the impact that puberty-blocking has on maturing bodies is a big concern.
Some child specialists think the drugs used need re-evaluating.
The Cass report makes clear that they are entirely experimental.
The impact of puberty-blockers on children had not been studied with sufficient scientific rigour, it says.
More research into the effects of puberty blockers on a young person’s brain development is needed.
Questions that need answering include:
- Does the medication “pause” puberty or serve as “an initial part of a transition pathway”?
- Was brain development “temporarily or permanently disrupted by puberty blockers?”
A concern is that adolescent sex hormone surges may trigger the opening of a critical period for the experience-dependent rewiring of neural circuits underlying executive function (i.e. maturation of the part of the brain concerned with planning, decision making and judgement).
“If this is the case, brain maturation may be temporarily or permanently disrupted by puberty blockers, which could have a significant impact on the ability to make complex risk-laden decisions, as well as possible longer-term neuropsychological consequences,” says Cass.
“To date, there has been very limited research on the short, medium or longer term impact of puberty blockers on neurocognitive development.”
Some former patients are now questioning their access to the trans-medicine drugs.
In fact, Tavistock patient Keira Bell (pictured) took the clinic to the High Court. She said she had not been challenged enough when she was prescribed the drugs at age 16.
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