The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) recently announced that the
Tavistock clinic, currently the only gender clinic for under-18s, is going to beclosed and replaced by two new clinics: one in London and one in the North West.These new clinics will be made of partnerships between existing children'shospitals in the area. ---- The media response to this was predictably bad,almost all of the mainstream press reported that Tavistock was being shut downdue to it being unsafe and "rushing vulnerable children into treatment" - whichis the exact opposite of what the Cass review said: ---- "Overall, GIDS faces adaunting task as a single provider in managing risk on the waiting list, seeingnew referrals, reviewing and supporting those on hormone treatment, undertakingan ongoing transformation programme, recruiting and training new staff and tryingto retain existing staff. This suggests that the current model is not sustainableand that another model is needed."While some reported on the two new clinics, many neglected to mention this untillater in the article, meaning all the headlines said was that the Tavistock wasbeing closed. This is caused a panic, as many people who use the clinic thoughtthat they were losing access to all care.Although the NHS are not (yet) shutting down all care for young trans people,this change will not make things any better or easier for them and may riskmaking things even worse. Changing from one clinic to two clinics doesn't fix theproblems with trans healthcare: treatment will still be kept behind psychologicalexaminations and having to prove to a doctor that you are "trans enough" to get care.The GIDS have not addressed how they will deal with reducing their waiting times,which are currently 4 - 5 years long, with young people that were referred in2018 only now starting to receive their first appointment. The NHS say that themaximum legal waiting time for a non-urgent appointment is 18 weeks. The GIDS arevery far over this limit.The GIDS also haven't addressed how they will compensate people who have been onthis list for over the maximum time or how they will compensate the families ofpeople who have died because of the excessively long waiting times.Potentially even worse, in the original press release they reported thatunder-16s would be forced to participate in a research project in exchange forendocrine care (puberty blockers). This part has since been removed from thepress release, but nothing confirming they wont be doing this has been issued, soit could still happen out of the public eye.Overall, even if these clinics are set up exactly to plan, it will not fix thefundamental problems with trans healthcare. It is also unlikely that it will evenbe rolled out and operated as they say, due to the pervasive institutionaltransphobia in both the NHS and the government.Bellahttps://organisemagazine.org.uk/2022/07/29/where-next-for-young-trans-healthcare/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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