Doesn't this BBC article about Tavistock mis somethingmis something Out?

It has, I posted to confirm that and explain the (resolved) issue.

I think your post has been reinstated R0?

I have shared the basis of Sonia Appleby's Safeguarding complaint against NHS Tavistock & Portman Trust for specific context. The whistleblown allegations in Appleby's words and the link to the source.

My post has been reinstated with the link to the source (crowdfund page) removed.
This is, as far as I'm aware, the only place that Sonia Appleby's allegations and outlined safeguarding concerns at GIDS are publically available.

As I have said, the potential implications speak to systemic Safeguarding & Child Protection framework failures within health and social care so should be of concern to all parents, carers and adults who take responsibility for children seriously.

Rowantrees I was referring to the Keira Bell case - I would say the drugging without proper consent, bad record keeping etc would be of a lot of interest to the people reading this report. To my mind that is a lot worse than waiting lists if you're looking at what's wrong.

I have shared the basis of Sonia Appleby's Safeguarding complaint against NHS Tavistock & Portman Trust for specific context. The whistleblown allegations in Appleby's words and the link to the source.

R0wantrees The deletion message says 'This post has been hidden until the MNHQ team can have a look at it.' I think that happens automatically without reports and is triggered by certain keywords, such as links to crowdfunders. I think there may be other keywords, but I'm not sure what they are.

If you report your deleted post and ask why it's been deleted, they normally come back fairly quickly with an explanation, and you should be able to repost without the offending part. If it was just a link to a crowdfunder they should be able to just automatically strip those out when they're posted and leave the rest of the post to stand. I don't know why they don't do this.

If you didn't link to a crowdfunder I have no idea why it would have been deleted.

Yes you are always 'within the spirit' and thorough, I should have said; can't fathom why it would be reported...

Thank you R0, I can't fathom why your post has been taken down when a number of Tavi clinicians have expressed concerns about safeguarding.

My post, as is the case with any on FWR, is taken down because it was reported.

I haven't received a message from MN so have no idea yet, on what basis.
I have always posted within the letter and spirit of the site and have over the years had some very creative complaints made against my posts.

Those attempting to suppress the evidence based concerns of professionals concerned for the welfare of children identified as transgender need to stop and start considering the very serious implications. Likewise those who are in thrall or indulging of such behaviours. Parents, Carers and professionals with Safeguarding responsibility for children must be able to freely consider evidence.

'Evidence review: Gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria'
This document will help inform Dr Hilary Cass’ independent review into gender identity services for children and young people. It was commissioned by NHS England and Improvement who commissioned the Cass review. It aims to assess the evidence for the
clinical effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues for children and adolescents aged 18 years or under with gender dysphoria.
The document was prepared by NICE in October 2020" (continues)
arms.nice.org.uk/resources/hub/1070905/attachment

thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4207281-NICE-Evidence-Review-for-Use-of-Puberty-Blockers-for-GD-Now-Released

Pertinent thread

NICE Evidence Review for Use of Puberty Blockers for GD - Now Released www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4207281-NICE-Evidence-Review-for-Use-of-Puberty-Blockers-for-GD-Now-Released

Is it normal for child patients to be on interview panels at NHS trusts?

I know that patient interest groups for specific illnesses are invited to be part of panels involved in NICE guidance.

How those charities are chosen, I'm not sure. And I'm not sure how often children are involved,

Bold fail, 3rd para.

Thank you R0, I can't fathom why your post has been taken down when a number of Tavi clinicians have expressed concerns about safeguarding.

"Club culture" - unfortunately this is the prevailing narrative cultured by numerous GID charities and pressure groups; ask questions, safeguarding questions, and you're bigoted.

As appears may be the case here, posting an outline of Safeguarding concerns at GIDS by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust children's Safeguarding lead has prompted report/s of my post.

When professionals are not only prevented from carrying out Child Protection/ Safeguarding but then prevented from whistleblowing or discussing the prevention of whistleblowing of serious Safeguarding concerns in NHS paediatric healthcare this is likely indicative of systemic Child Protection framework failure.

That bares repeating.

OldCrone I posted the context of the allegations of 'safeguarding concerns at GIDS' made by Sonia Appleby who is employed as children's Safeguarding Lead by NHS Tavistock & Portman Trust.

A pp had referenced that some parents were concerned. Its important that any parent/carer who has a child treated by an NHS trust where Child Protection/Safeguarding allegations have been made is aware of both the nature of the allegations and the background of the professional who is whistleblowing.

There are specific aspects to the allegations and the case which may have very serious implications for all children treated with UK health services.

Wider context of whistleblowing as a vital part of the Child Protection & Safeguarding frameworks:

'What is Whistleblowing in Health and Social Care?'
by Lauren Hockley Published: Wed, 19 Sep 2018
(extract)
"Whistleblowing in the health and social care sectors is of immense importance, given the scale of harm that can be done to patients and clients through malpractice.

Whistleblowing is where staff report concerns about wrongdoing, most commonly seen at work. It is seen across all industry sectors and is gathering momentum as an increased emphasis on transparency sweeps through society. The following types of concerns can be classified as whistleblowing:

Unsafe patient care
Poor clinical practice
Failure to properly safeguard patients
Inadequate administration of medicines
Untrained staff
Unsafe working conditions
Lack of policies
Bullying at work
Unwell or stressed staff who are not seeking help

These complaints differ from personal grievances as they have a public rather than private interest. Sometimes it can be difficult to know if a complaint classifies as whistleblowing or not. The NHS Whistleblowing Helpline can help to answer this type of question, for NHS and social care workers. Similarly, the charity Public Concern at Work can provide free and confidential legal advice. Whistleblowers can be employees, former employees, trainees, agency workers or members of an organisation.

Why is Whistleblowing Important in the Health and Social Care Sectors?
Those working in the health and social care sectors have a duty to put patients and the people they are working for first, as outlined in their professional code of conduct. Therefore, if an action is likely to cause harm to these people, there is a duty to report it. Essentially, whistleblowing is an early warning system that allows malpractice to be addressed before it results in serious harm. The nature of the health and social care sectors means that mistakes that would be considered minor in other sectors could have serious consequences for those involved. Patients are often at the receiving end of malpractice and require our protection accordingly.

The Bristol Royal Infirmary scandal highlights the atrocious damage that can be done by overlooking malpractice in the health and social care sectors. Around 35 babies tragically died from 1990 to 1995 at the hands of Bristol Royal Infirmary's cardiac surgeons, whilst numerous more suffered irreversible brain damage. The unit continued to carry out high-risk operations at the expense of children's safety, and in far too many cases their lives, in order to make the unit a centre of excellence. The practice continued until Steve Bolsin, a consultant cardiac anaesthetist, blew the whistle on the astoundingly high mortality rate in the unit. When Bolsin approached management with the shocking mortality figures he had compiled, he was turned away and ignored. The CEO of the trust nearly fired him for his persistence with the matter. Bristol has been described as having a "club culture" where a few people had far too much power, which essentially bred ignorance to these malpractices. Had Steve Bolsin not courageously stepped forward to blow the whistle, countless more young lives could have been lost." (continues)

www.delta-net.com/compliance/whistleblowing/faqs/what-is-whistleblowing-in-health-and-social-care

As appears may be the case here, posting an outline of Safeguarding concerns at GIDS by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust children's Safeguarding lead has prompted report/s of my post.

When I first saw your post it had the message about MN having a look at it, but the video was still there. Now it's gone completely. Was there anything else or just a link to the video? I think it was this one.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51806962

I don't think I'm breaking any guidelines by posting a link to a Newsnight video and a BBC webpage, but we'll see.

Did you post a link to a page about the Tavistock's safeguarding lead, Sonia Appleby? That might have triggered the deletion.

Referred to and embedded in the OP article are Tavistock & Portman July 2015 Board of Directors minutes

Link to the minutes:
tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/documents/143/board-papers-2015-07.pdf

I had a look at the minutes from that meeting to see if there was any more information about what these two young people had said, and if there was any more detail about what Mr I said here about referral by the school.

Ms Gizbert asked Mr I about the wait before he could come to the Tavistock, and how that had felt. Mr I said that it felt long at the time, and he knew it could have been done faster through school but he hadn’t wanted to involve his parents.

This implies that the school would have informed the child's parents (as they should), but that in this case the child found another route for referral about which the parents may not have been informed. Although this sentence implies that Mr I's parents were involved:

Mr I added that two clinicians meant that the family could be supported too, so they could speak to clinicians separately before coming back together.

The person who wrote this up also seems to have become a bit confused about who was who, because the last two paragraphs of this section refer to 'Mr H' and 'Ms I' instead of 'Ms H and 'Mr I'.

Ms I added that she appreciated that the Trust was involving her and the other young people in the service, getting their feedback, and listening to their point of view. She added that they had sat on an interview panel that morning, and it was really good to be on the other side of the table for once.

Is it normal for child patients to be on interview panels at NHS trusts?

you can see why parents are concerned about the brushing aside of normal safeguarding practises when it comes to gender identity.

WarriorN Parents, carers and all adults should be very concerned that standard Safeguarding and Child Protection practises are being disregarded / undermined when it comes to gender identity.

As appears may be the case here, posting an outline of Safeguarding concerns at GIDS by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust children's Safeguarding lead has prompted report/s of my post.

When professionals are not only prevented from carrying out Child Protection/ Safeguarding but then prevented from whistleblowing or discussing the prevention of whistleblowing of serious Safeguarding concerns in NHS paediatric healthcare this is likely indicative of systemic Child Protection framework failure.

The possible implications of this are likely to be catastrophic for some children.

Binglebong Which case are you referring to?

I find it shocking that there has just bern a huge court case that doesn't even get mentioned.

WarriorN Sonia Appleby, the Children's Safeguarding lead at Tavistock & Portman, has instigated a case against the trust based on what she identifies as 'Safeguarding concerns at GIDS'

Background by Appleby:
"I am a qualified social worker (1981); adult psychoanalytic psychotherapist (I992); MSc. in health psychology, (research) and MBA. I have a long career safeguarding and protecting children in social care, health and as a children’s guardian in public and private proceedings.

I am currently the Named Professional for Safeguarding Children and the Safeguarding Children Lead at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. I am therefore still employed by the Trust against which I am bringing my claim.

What is Safeguarding?

In all NHS trusts and organisations there are professionals such as myself, who work with other internal departments and external agencies to ensure there are 'root and branch' systems to keep patients and service users safe. This means responding to patient/service users' personal experiences, also including their environmental, familial, community/peer circumstances and sometimes any of the aforementioned domains could require the intervention of other professionals in different agencies. Safeguarding children and young people also concerns ensuring there is a sufficiently, healthy culture that does not unwittingly contribute to potential harm regarding the people who use and deliver NHS services.

Safeguarding within the Trust

My primary task is to ensure that clinicians protect their patients/service users from avoidable harm and are also able to recognize and appropriately respond to situations where under 18s are in need of safeguarding. My secondary task is challenge practices which are either harmful or could lead to harm. The Trust is commissioned by NHS England to deliver a National Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which provides services for children and adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The treatments available also include "puberty blockers".

I have sought to ensure the principle of ''safeguarding children and young people'' is upheld whilst service users are being assessed and treated within the GIDS service.

My Claim

I lodged a whistle-blowing claim in November 2019 at the Central London Employment Tribunal. Since then I have made 2 applications to amend my claim as new information came to light.

In my claim, I allege that because I made "protected disclosures" to my line manager regarding concerns raised by GIDS staff ( that the health or safety of patients was being, had been or was likely to be endangered), I was subjected to detriments.

I allege these detriments are:

i) the Tavistock misused it's own procedures to besmirch me and therefore jeopardize the role of safeguarding within the Trust;

ii) there was an unwritten but mandated directive from the Tavistock management that safeguarding concerns should not be brought to my attention despite being the Trust Safeguarding Children Lead;

iii) and, clinicians were discouraged from reporting safeguarding concerns to me.

I also allege various other detriments.

Further to disclosures made to Newsnight by former staff, BBC Newsnight produced a programme focusing on the allegation that the Trust did not want to report any concerns to me. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51806962

and you can watch it here

Parents, carers and all adults concerned for the Safeguarding of children within UK NHS and private healthcare provision should be very concerned. The implications of the allegations by Sonia Appelby go way beyond this particular paediatric clinic / service as they potentially expose very serious failures of the Child Protection/ Safeguarding framework within health and social care.

[Post edited by MNHQ to remove fundraising link]

Thanks R0, you can see why parents are concerned about the brushing aside if normal safeguarding practises when it comes to gender identity.

And schools are being told by groups such as Stonewall that they don't have to inform parents if their child identifies as transgender. So could a child could be referred to GIDS by the school without the parents' knowledge?

Referred to and embedded in the OP article are Tavistock & Portman July 2015 Board of Directors minutes,

(extract)
"Just a month later, the July 2015 minutes record that GIDS director Polly Carmichael acknowledged the service had reached a point where it "would have to say enough" and she was working on how to convey this to NHS England.

The Trust's then medical director also conceded there was a sense of "escalating risk", not just from work pressure but also in "the number of safeguarding and risk concerns being brought to him for advice".

www.bbc.com/news/uk-56539466

(extract)
"17 Patient Story - GIDS
Ms Greatley welcomed two young people from the GIDS service, Ms H and Mr I, and the board introduced themselves.
Mr I explained that his route to GIDS had been straightforward, with a
referral in August 2014 and then initial assessment in November. These had led to a referral to UCLH and the prescription of hormone blockers. Ms H’s journey had not been as smooth, as her GP hadn’t known how to respond to her, and when she did get referred to CAMHS there had been a long delay with multiple assessments before she was referred on. However, once at the Tavistock things had been clearer and more structured.
Mr I commented that it was easy to find the centre, the receptionist were welcoming, and the clinicians were really nice and made it clear how the visits would work. Ms H agreed that it was a good place to visit, and added that having two clinicians made sessions feel more open and less like interviews. Mr I added that two clinicians meant that the family could be supported too, so they could speak to clinicians separately before coming back together.

Dr Harris asked what their mothers might say about the experience of
visiting the Tavistock. Ms H said that her mother had found it helpful, and before visiting they had argued a lot, but the sessions had allowed them to talk about things which had improved their relationship.
Ms Gizbert asked Mr I about the wait before he could come to the Tavistock, and how that had felt. Mr I said that it felt long at the time, and he knew it could have been done faster through school but he hadn’t wanted to involve his parents. Looking back on it though, it was ok. Dr McPherson asked how it had been with school, and Ms H said that she had come out first at school and they had agreed she could wear the female uniform, but they had offered no counselling, referral or advice.
Mr Jenkins explained that he attended the GIDS summer event, and
wondered if there was more the Trust could do to raise awareness.
Ms H said that having stories about what it was like to come to GIDS on the website would be good, with details of what the process was like in practice, as she had assumed that all she would need to do was visit the GP to be prescribed hormones. Mr I added that stories from young people would be better than ones from adults or clinicians" (continues)

As 'Mr I' and 'Ms H' are both described as current patients/service users of GIDS they are children (under 18) and therefore legally the opposite sex to that usually associated with the titles Mr/Ms

Referrals can be made by staff in health and social services, schools, colleges of further education and by people in voluntary organisations who may have concerns about a young person’s gender identity development and associated difficulties.

And schools are being told by groups such as Stonewall that they don't have to inform parents if their child identifies as transgender. So could a child could be referred to GIDS by the school without the parents' knowledge?

Youth groups could refer? I didn't know that.

Like that lgbtq youth group in Coventry, prism, for who AC used to volunteer for?

Youth Groups, schools, colleges, voluntary organisations such as Mermaids not only can refer but GIDS as part of its NHS service specification GIDS has responsibility/objectives for informing/guiding those community services as 'the experts' in children's 'gender identities'.

See p12 onwards
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/gender-development-service-children-adolescents.pdf

Extract (p16)
"Referrals
3.2.2 Referring professionals will be encouraged to discuss the referral with the family/ carer and seek their agreement. The Service will only accept referrals for children and adolescents with features of GD which are consistent with the current diagnostic criteria as defined in DSM-5.
Referrals can be made by staff in health and social services, schools, colleges of further education and by people in voluntary organisations who may have concerns about a young person’s gender identity development and associated difficulties. "

www.england.nhs.uk/publication/gender-identity-development-service-for-children-and-adolescent-service-specification/

Youth groups could refer? I didn't know that.

Like that lgbtq youth group in Coventry, prism, for who AC used to volunteer for?

🤔