New gender clinic for children to open after a year delay – Ireland News

Thousands of people are on the waiting list for a new gender clinic for children due to open a year later after Tavistock ends its service.

Around 250 patients who were being treated at the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), run by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, will have formal responsibility for their care transferred to the new practice from 1 April. That will happen.

Around 5,000 children and young people across the north and south of England are waiting to be referred to new clinics.

The original aim was to have the clinic up and running by spring 2023, but this was postponed due to what NHS England described at the time as a “complex” set-up for a “completely new service”.

The new sites will be led by Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Ahead of the opening, Health Minister Maria Caulfield said the clinic would be attended by “experts in safety measures, neurodiversity and mental health to ensure children are protected”.

NHS England expects the center to be the first of up to eight specialist centers over the next two years as part of the North-South Hub, with the opening of a “new “This is just the first step in establishing a model.” young people and their families.

In 2020, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Gid as inadequate, saying the service was difficult to access, with young people waiting more than two years to make their first appointment.

The regulator also said there was “high variation in the clinical approaches of experts”, records were not clear about why decisions were made and staff did not develop comprehensive care plans for patients. Ta.

The closure of the service in Tavistock, which has come under repeated scrutiny, was prompted by a review which stated the need to move away from single units and recommended the creation of community services to better support young people. .

The research, led by Dr Hilary Cass, follows a surge in referrals to Gid, with more than 5,000 referrals in 2021/22 compared to just under 250 a decade ago. .

Dr Cass’ interim report, published in February 2022, noted a lack of long-term evidence and data collection about what happens to children and young people prescribed the drug.

She added that Gids does not collect routine and consistent data. “This means it is impossible to accurately track the outcomes and paths that children and young people take through this service.”

Her final report is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

In March, NHS England confirmed it would no longer prescribe puberty blockers to children at gender identity clinics.

The drug, which halts physical changes during puberty such as breast development and facial hair, will now only be available to children as part of a clinical research trial.

The Government welcomed the “landmark decision”, adding it would help ensure care is evidence-based and in the “best interests of the child”.

Speaking about the opening of the new clinic, a spokesperson for NHS England said: “In line with the Cass Review, NHS England has taken the decision to close Tavistock and establish a radically different and improved approach to gender services for children and young people.”

“This transition is complex, but it is just the first step in establishing a new model for providing comprehensive support to children, young people and their families.”

“As we establish our new service, we are focused on ensuring continuity of care, with all patients on call receiving a community mental health assessment and receiving the best possible support. Additional national resources will be provided to ensure that.”

Mermaids, a charity supporting transgender young people, said it was concerned that young people’s “voices and experiences are being ignored in a highly politicized process”.

Transgender Trends, which advocates for evidence-based treatment for children experiencing gender-related distress, described Gids’ closure as “good news” and said it was “a new gender hub”. It remains to be seen whether they will follow the recommendations,” he added. We provide services that are rated by Cass Review and in line with standard pediatric medical standards.