Teens have suffered irreversible changes in their bodies based on ‘remarkably weak evidence’ and ‘toxic’ debate taints key issues. Schools are ALSO blasted by eminent doctor.
- Dr Cass was appointed to lead review into identity services for youths in 2020
- Report concludes NHS treatment based on ‘remarkably weak evidence’
- READ MORE:Â Everything you need to know about the sweeping 400-page Cass reportÂ
Children given the National Health Service (NHS) transgender treatment have been set on a path of irreversible change despite scant medical data, a report has concluded.
NHS gender identity services for children and young people have been based on ‘remarkably weak evidence’, the independent review by leading pediatrician Dr Hilary Cass warned.
Her study, commissioned nearly four years ago, makes 32 recommendations to overhaul NHS trans services to improve the care that children receive.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the report and called for ‘extreme caution’ in treating youngsters in the future.
Campaigners hailed it as ‘a return to common-sense decision-making’. In other developments:
- Dr Cass said the ‘toxicity of the debate’ over trans care for children was ‘exceptional’ – and revealed she was herself singled out for criticism during her work;
- The report said there was a ‘lack of high-quality research’ on the effects of giving children puberty blockers and hormones, and recommended that NHS England establish its own research program;
- Long NHS waiting lists were said to have driven trans children into the arms of private clinics, with GPs ‘pressurized to prescribe’;
- Dr Cass laid the groundwork for schools to introduce clearer guidance when dealing with trans children, ending the exclusion of parents;
- The report called for the creation a separate service for those wanting to ‘de-transition’, where a gender transition is stopped or reversed;
- Dr Cass recommended a ‘follow-through service’ for 17 to 25-year-olds to protect teenagers ‘falling off a cliff edge’ in care when they hit 17.
- NHS England launched a similar review of adult gender services led by an independent expert.
Dr Cass warned that her review had been hampered by how polarized the debate on trans care for children has become. She said medical professionals had been left ‘[too] afraid to openly discuss their views’.
By Alex Ward And Shaun Wooller and Harriet Line
