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Original poster

Gender GP: Inside the world of private trans healthcare

57 replies

Signalbox · 20/06/2023 20:07

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-slow-newscast/id1487320403?i=1000617431129

Just giving this podcast (which includes an interview with Helen Webberley) a thread of its own because it is frankly astounding and well worth a listen…

“Last year journalist Polly Curtis spent months trying to understand what went wrong at the Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service for young people. You can hear her Tortoise podcast series: Inside the Tavistock here. In the reporting of that series one thing kept coming up: some young people who couldn’t - for whatever reason - access the Tavistock - the only NHS service in England for young people with gender dysphoria, were going down the private healthcare route. So what happens if a young person follows that path? This is the story of Gender GP and its founder, Helen Webberley, an entrepreneurial doctor from south Wales.”

The Slow Newscast: Gender GP: inside the world of private trans healthcare on Apple Podcasts

‎The Slow Newscast: Gender GP: inside the world of private trans healthcare on Apple Podcasts

‎Show The Slow Newscast, Ep Gender GP: inside the world of private trans healthcare - 19 Jun 2023

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-slow-newscast/id1487320403?i=1000617431129

OP posts:
Littlesprouts · 20/06/2023 23:55

About ten years ago there was a real problem where I live with kids as young as 12 getting hold of so-called prescription drugs - Valium, Tramadol and Xanax,

This is an interesting point as that seems so very of its time, at least media-wise - what springs to mind immediately is eg the likes of Matthew Perry and Xanax, and the Frankie Boyle (ugh) show Tramadol Nights. You don't hear of that sort of thing these days.

An indication this will all go the same way in time, hopefully.

Original poster
Signalbox · 20/06/2023 23:39

They may well still be selling the whole lot, and adding "T" and other hormones to the menu.

Sounds like it would be worth their while. You can imagine where it might end. There’s a real culture building around “DIY” hormone treatment to bypass medical gate keeping. And as this becomes normalised people will become more and more reckless in securing their drug of choice. Then when the risks of buying from dealers becomes apparent they’ll push for “harm reduction” schemes where anyone can just turn up at a chemist and get free hormones. And the trans activists have then achieved what they wanted from the start.

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OP posts:
Original poster
Signalbox · 20/06/2023 23:20

I wonder what her relationship with Gender GP is now. Do the Webberley’s still own it?

OP posts:
OhWhatMerryHellIsThis · 20/06/2023 23:14

About ten years ago there was a real problem where I live with kids as young as 12 getting hold of so-called prescription drugs - Valium, Tramadol and Xanax, various generics etc. There was a whole series of stuff that kids were buying after self-diagnosing with anxiety. They were sold by the same street dealers as cannabis at the time. They may well still be selling the whole lot, and adding "T" and other hormones to the menu.

Listening to this podcast reminded me that allowing children to self-diagnose, and then decide on their own treatment, can't possibly be good.

I found her attitude, and platitudes, quite shocking. And she's meant to be a doctor; she must be intelligent, she should be well-educated, but she has no sense of self-moderation (and a very strong interest in making money).

Original poster
Signalbox · 20/06/2023 22:59

I thought she came across as reckless and the idea that she is following some sort of best practice or evidence base was completely undermined. For both her first adult and child case she said it just “felt” like the right thing to do. And she clearly gets a thrill from people’s gratitude. Definitely a bit of a God complex going on. It’s scary that someone like her is still allowed to practice.

OP posts:
Littlesprouts · 20/06/2023 22:38

I agree Hopelessly, I'm still mulling over what to make of it as it was an eye opener in many respects. I hadn't listened to Tortoise's previous reporting on the Tavistock.

Obviously I have read about it over the years but this touched on so many elements of the whole business that my DCs will soon start to become aware of, that it was the first time it has concerned me as a parent rather than just politically.

Webberley came across as almost naive - but then the money-making potential is so absurdly vast that getting Susie Green on board and linking up their resources seemed a rather chilling marriage.

Hopelesslydevotedtoshrews · 20/06/2023 20:45

I listened to this today. It was... unnerving. That extraordinary certainty that she was always absolutely right, was just really, really uncomfortable. Also the sense, (although the reporting I felt was quite leading here), that GenderGP was the side hustle amongst variously tried side hustles that came good.

Also the idea that young people can just buy hormones from drug dealers was completely new to me, I feel ridiculously naive that that had never occurred to me before.