NHS England is set to close its sole gender-identity clinic for children by spring, amid concerns the clinic was unsafe.
The closure of the Tavistock clinic, named the Gender and Identity Development Service (GIDS), comes after an independent review was led by doctor Hilary Cass “to ensure that children and young people are able to access the best possible support from the NHS.”
The interim report revealed there was a “significant increase in referrals” of children to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, contributing to long waiting lines and concerns about how people were being diagnosed.
“It has become increasingly clear that a single specialist provider model is not a safe or viable long-term option in view of concerns about lack of peer review and the ability to respond to the increasing demand,” Cass said in the report.
The gender clinic will be replaced by two regional centers at existing children’s hospitals.
Doctors have felt “pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach” at the gender clinic “that is at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis,” the report said.
There is also lack of agreement about what gender dysphoria is and no “consistent data collection” at GIDS, according to the report.
The report was unable to “provide advice on the use of hormone treatments due to gaps in the evidence base.”
“The aim is to close the Tavistock clinic by spring 2023, moving to the new provider model through specialist children hospitals,” a senior NHS source told the Guardian.
Patients already in the clinic will experience no changes, according to the source.
“The children being seen by the Tavistock (and those on waiting lists) will be transferred to a new provider over the course of that time,” the source said, according to the outlet.