No irreversible pathway: new vow of support package on gender care

A MINISTER today promised a "fundamental change of direction" for NHS gender care for children after a landmark review found that the pillars of gender medicine were "built on shaky foundations".

- Daniel Keane

The Cass Review, published by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, found that the NHS had used unproven treatments such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on vulnerable children despite "remarkably weak evidence" of their effectiveness.

Doctors were "afraid" to discuss their views on treatment because of the "toxicity" of the debate around gender, the report found, leaving young people "caught in the middle of a stormy social discourse".

The 388-page report was commissioned by NHS England in 2020 in response to a significant rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at Tavistock and Portman

NHS trust in Hampstead. Around 9,000 children and young people were treated at the clinic between 2009 and 2020, with an average age at referral of 14.

The review contains 32 recommendations for overhauling NHS services, including strengthening research and commissioning a separate service for people who wish to "detransition", referring to the process where someone discontinues or reverses a medical gender transition.

Young people referred for gender treatment on the NHS should also be given screening for neurodevelopment conditions such as autism and a full mental health assessment, Dr Cass wrote.