By Miriam BarkerBBC News
Campaigners claim that children with gender dysphoria are being “let along” by a lack of exposure to aid in Wales.
Anyone looking to change their gender must visit London to speak with a doctor or specialist.
When Sean Donovan was 14 years old, he learned he had gender dysphoria and called it a “officer out” that Wales did not have a service for young people.
The Welsh state stated that it would work with young people to improve their understanding of gender identity.
The time services provided by NHS England, which is also the only choice for children from Wales, was “highly concerning” and in violation of their human rights, according to a report from the children’s director for Wales.
Additionally, it claimed that the Welsh president’s LGBTQ+ action plan was in conflict with it.
The London’s Tavistock center provides the gender identification service that is offered in Wales.
Sean, who is pictured with his mother Sarah when he was younger, claims he was conscious of his identity but that he had no idea how to explain it.
Due to the lengthy delay on the NHS, Sean, 19, from Caerphilly, claimed he and his family had to go to private care.
He said, “If I didn’t do anything, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay mentally well.”
There was no future when I wasn’t thinking about my future.
He claimed that because young people had to travel to London for therapy, they were being “let over.”
Sarah claimed that having to wait for a company in England was making young people like her son Sean a failure.
When her brother revealed to her that he was trans, Sarah Donovan said “her world crashed.” She added that Wales needed a children’s sex services.
She said, “Children and young people are waiting in purgatory, there is nothing for them.”
In a review of the present company, Dr. Hillary Cass discovered that to meet their needs, the NHS needed a fundamentally different type of care for children with gender distress.
She stated that more solutions were “needed for you, close to where you live,” but she had not made any recommendations regarding the use of estrogen treatments.
The children’s commissioner for Wales, Rachel Thomas, head of policy and public affairs, claimed that using England’s services “doesn’t necessarily give the opportunity to meet all the aims and goals for how Wales wants to approach this issue as a nation.”
One of the compelling arguments for considering a Wales-specific female service was “one of the solid reasons for looking at a service,” she continued. This, in addition to the exceedingly long waiting lists, was “one of the solid reasons for looking into a Wales-specific female service.”
“We’re talking years, not months, on waiting lists.” You can’t just carry on as you are, hoping for the best, and holding off until you make your first appointment.
Christina Witney, a resident of Cardiff, claimed that her 13-year-old boy, whose name she did not want to give, was stressed most of the time and cried himself to rest as he waited for a physician to diagnose his gender dysphoria.
She took him to the GP when he was 10 years old, but she does not believe that young people “understand the severity of the issue” and that more assistance was required for them to confront their female identity.
“His body is changing and it is really troubling-it outs him-it outs him other people,” he said. “Having treatment did considerably increase his health and how he feels.”
Sean claimed that having access to services did not necessarily entail using treatment, counseling, and help rather than hormones, surgery, or puberty-blockers.
Female services, according to Ms. Thomas, one of the few areas of medical where services are better for people, compared to the typical “companies fall apart as you move into adult service.”
A Wales gender service, according to her, would be a place for support, not necessarily treatment: “It could be just counselling; it does n’t mean hormones or puberty blockers.”
Ms. Thomas claimed that the children’s director had spoken with people who were worried about the direction the organization was taking in relation to the review being conducted by Dr. Cass.
“We are closely monitoring what emerges, especially given how strongly the British authorities supports that position.”
There are no immediate plans to create a children and young person’s identity services independent of NHS England’s, according to the Welsh Health Specialized Services Committee for NHS Wales.
This will be in line with Dr. Cass’s final document, which is anticipated to be released quickly.
Any patients who want to continue receiving treatment may be “transferred to a suitable alternative NHS service on 1 April 2024 where they will get the professional support they need,” according to NHS England, which announced the closure of the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock Centre on March 31.
According to a official, “The NHS has outlined plans to establish around eight local services, and we are working with a number of NHS children’s institutions to move these out over the next few times.”
