In response to the Cass evaluation, the Health Secretary has called on the NHS to reveal the fate of 9,000 transgender younger people receiving care from the contentious Tavistock office.
The landmark report published on Wednesday found adult female hospitals had refused to disclose whether trans people who started their care as children eventually changed their minds about transitioning, or went on to suffer serious mental health issues.
Nothing less than complete cooperation by those facilities in the study is appropriate, according to Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, who met with Amanda Pritchard, the deputy executive of NHS England, on Wednesday.
Ms. Atkins claims in a letter to The Telegraph that she has had enough of “a tradition of secrecy and ideology over facts and health.”
She goes on: “We just do not know the lifelong effects of these health initiatives on young minds and bodies to be clear that they are healthy”.
The Health Secretary, Victoria Atkins, has expressed her outrage over how the NHS’s female hospitals are run.Ms. Atkins says that she expects private hospitals to also follow these tips, and is looking into ways the Department for Health and Social Care may stop physicians abroad from prescribing puberty blockers to kids in Britain.
She also praises those who spoke out and says she is “greatly troubled” by the rapid rise in the referral of teenage girls to transgender clinics and “raises the alarm about how treatment was diverging so far from guidance.”
According to The Telegraph, NHS England has since instructed the chief executives of the hospital trusts that run the adult clinics to request that the data be passed along as well as request that an end be made to appointments for minors. The health service will also undertake an external review of all its transgender services.
Lack of data is deemed to be unacceptable.
The lack of “robust data” on what had happened to the 9,000 children treated by the gender clinic at the Tavistock between 2009 and 2020 was “unacceptable,” according to the review’s lead author, Dr. Hilary Cass, a paediatrician.
Those children then went on to continue their treatment at adult clinics.
The University of York’s research had been intended to examine the long-term effects of the Tavistock treatment of children.
It was anticipated to reveal information about the clinic’s work, such as the number of patients receiving cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers, how many people detransitioned, and how many people had “co-occurring mental health diagnoses” or “diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder. The review had been given the power to access medical records.
Ms. Atkins says: “It is scandalous that adult gender clinics have not cooperated with the important University of York research to link data on children at the Tavistock so that we can understand their journey into adulthood.
This government made the unprecedented step of modifying the law to make this happen. There can be no further delay on their full participation. I am aware that NHS England will, if necessary, use all the resources at their disposal to compel this.
Nothing less than the clinics’ full support during the study’s development is acceptable.
Sajid Javid demands ‘no holds barred’ inquiry
In 2022, Sajid Javid, the former health secretary who gave the independent review powers to access medical records, advocated for “a no holds barred government investigation” to hold those accountable for obstructing the process.
He told The Telegraph: “Despite it being the unanimous will of Parliament, it is obvious that vested interests have purposefully undermined the crucial data access legislation that I brought forward to support Dr. Cass’s review.
“A no holds barred government investigation should be launched into this obfuscation, documents retrieved and, if necessary, individuals held accountable for failing to provide records.”
The main seven adult gender clinics are understood to be legally able to hand over the data they hold on trans patients, with only one being willing to do so in response to requests made by researchers to date. Five additional adult clinics have been established as pilot programs since 2020.
Amanda Pritchard, the NHS England chief executive, met the Health Secretary on Wednesday. NHS England is now understood to have written to the affected clinics.The Tavistock, which also runs an adult service, refused to give data on either of its services, the report said.
The Leeds Gender Identity Clinic, Northampton Gender Identity Clinic, Newcastle’s Northern Region Gender Dysphoria Service, the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health, Porterbrook Clinic Gender Identity Service in Sheffield, and Laurels Gender Identity Clinic in Exeter are the other adult clinics.
NHS accepts responsibility for research
The NHS is committed to undertaking the research and has moved the responsibility for its completion from the Cass review to the NHS National Research Oversight Board for Children and Young People’s Gender.
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed his “pretty angry” that the trusts had refused to cooperate.
“You won’t get away with it, I want to send a clear message to them that under a Labour government there will be accountability for that. And I want to work constructively with the Government to try to get this right,” he said.
It was “disgraceful” that gender clinicians employed by the NHS wilfully obstructed Hilary Cass’s attempt to conduct research as part of her review, according to Professor Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University and board member of the charity Sex Matters.
These NHS clinics allegedly owe it to them to refuse to provide patient information. This information is needed by clinicians, the general public and most importantly, future patients and their families, so they can understand the safety and efficacy of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,” he said.
Public sector organizations that deliberately withhold information are impeachable, and those accountable must be held accountable.
It is deeply troubling that attempts to gather evidence for the Cass Review have been purposefully thwarted, said Kate Barker, the CEO of the advocacy group LGB Alliance. All of its recommendations are
at risk while institutions remain captured by zealous, anti-science proponents of gender identity ideology.”
Rowling applauds the work of the reviewers
J.K. Rowling praised the Cass review on Wednesday, but she also criticized trans rights activists who continued to criticize it.
“Over the last four years, Hilary Cass has conducted the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that’s ever been conducted,” the author tweeted.
Committed ideologues are double-down shortly after it was made available to the press and the general public.
These are people who have labeled opponents as “far-right” for wanting to know there are proper checks and balances in place before autistic, gay, and abused kids, who are all overrepresented at gender clinics, are left sterilized, inorgasmic, lifelong patients.
“I understand that the review’s conclusions will have come as a seismic shock to those who’ve hounded and demonised whistleblowers and smeared opponents as bigots and transphobes, but trying to discredit Hilary Cass’s work isn’t merely misguided. It is actively hostile.
Where is your sense of self-preservation, even if you don’t feel ashamed of cheerleading for what currently appears to be severe medical malpractice, even if you don’t want to accept that you might have been wrong? The bandwagon you hopped on so gladly is hurtling towards a cliff”.
The “laying bare of a tragedy”
She continued, “And if I sound angry, it’s because I’m bloody angry.” I read Cass this morning and my anger’s been mounting all day. Children have suffered irreparably harm, and thousands of people are complicit, not just the doctors, but the celebrities ‘ media outlets, unquestioned media, and cynical corporations.
The effects of this scandal will last for many years. You cheered it on. You made every effort to obstruct and misrepresent research. You attempted to force people to leave their jobs because they opposed you. Young people have been experimented on, left infertile and in pain.
The Cass Review may be a turning point, but it is too late for those who have written me heartbreaking letters of regret. It’s the laying bare of a tragedy, not a triumph today.
Children’s safety and wellbeing come before anything else
By Health Secretary Victoria Atkins
The conclusion of Dr. Cass’s review marks a turning point in our understanding of how to care for children who are having difficult identity questions.
I am hugely grateful to Dr Cass’s dedicated team for their detailed and considered work on such a contentious area of healthcare. I applaud those brave individuals who raised the alarm about how treatment was diverting so far from the intended message.
a culture of impunity and ideology over the protection of facts. Today I’m saying “enough”.
To be certain that their safety, we do not know the long-term effects of these medical interventions on young minds and bodies.
The ages and sex of those seeking assistance have also changed significantly. I am greatly troubled by the rapid rise in the referral of teenage girls and the stressors that Dr Cass highlights like social media and degrading pornography.
Action is already being taken to safeguard our children.
NHS England has immediately stopped children under the age of 18 from being seen by adult gender services.
This builds on progress earlier this year to end the routine prescription of puberty blockers at the new regional services. A timely update on cross-sex hormones clinical policy is required now.
I’ve written to NHS England’s chief executive to get more details about this and how quickly Dr. Cass ‘ recommendations should be delivered. I want to ensure that we prioritise continuity of care and support up to the age of 25 with a follow-through service for young people at a potentially vulnerable stage in their journey.
It is scandalous that adult gender clinics have not collaborated with the important University of York research to connect data on Tavistock children so that we can understand their development into adulthood.
This government made the unprecedented legal change necessary. There can be no further delay on their full participation. I am aware that NHS England will, if necessary, use all the resources at their disposal to compel this.
I have a clear expectation that private companies should also conform to my expectations. I have instructed my officials to work on the changes necessary to close down routes that allow puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to be prescribed to children for gender dysphoria from abroad.
In the new services, we need clinicians from all medical disciplines to collaborate to create better, more holistic care teams. Teams that take care of the entire child and all of their needs.
Children and young people must have healthcare that is caring and careful. Their security and well-being come first. I’ll make every effort to implement these changes.
