Sandyford no longer to provide 'gender care' for children and young people

I can't imagine being a doctor who cared about children's welfare and overseeing this shitshow while being unable to stop it . From his whistleblowing report:

'The document says that by 2021 the Scottish government “began championing trans-rights issues including self-determination … blurring the distinction between biological sex and gender in law”. It alleges that a “lack of objectivity in staff assessing gender patients” developed amid this, including an “overly affirmative stance in line with the sociopolitical narrative”.
It also describes “fear of challenge among the staff group which relates to said narrative, as any questioning is deemed transphobic”.
The document states: “In particular, the young person’s service appears to have adopted an overly affirmative stance in their assessment process as illustrated by the numerous clinical examples above, all of which evidence relatively brief interactions and onward referral to endocrinology (hormone) services for medical intervention despite there being significant mental health issues in several cases and this seems to be at odds with the approach of the adult'

My reading is that only post pubertal children/young people will go to Assisted Conception Units. It's not clear what stage of puberty they mean, though. Hoping there will be more detail.

I'd also like to know what they base this all on. WPATH are no-nos, apparently, since NHS Scotland had to report theyselves to the police for sharing the Eunuch porn link.

So on what basis are they working out their 'treatment' pathways? For a condition, we should remember, that is 'not a mental illness' so presumably not an illness at all.

Well, we knew the Scottish government are well beyond saving! They will be out, resoundingly out, next year.

They are still working on guidance or something for children/young people, I think, due out soon-ish.

I suppose what we need to ask is how will Labour be any different?

Jesus, read this:

'Currently, for pre-pubertal children, GICs will provide information about fertility with a referral for fertility preservation being made, where appropriate, for young people after the onset of puberty.
The service for young people and adults is carried out in Assisted Conception Units. The procedures for preservation of fertility involve a process of appointments, investigations and procedures and are potentially traumatic.'

'The overarching conclusion from the review by Dr Cass and the sum of the evidence presented in the systematic reviews suggests that there is inadequate evidence for the use of puberty-suppressing hormones or regarding the longer-term risks. In addition, whilst gender-affirming hormones may be the right treatment for some young people, we do not have sufficient evidence to know which children or young people will benefit most.
We agree with the review conclusions that, at the present time, there is insufficient evidence to support the benefits of puberty-suppressing hormones and that the risks of harm remain a significant potential concern.
We understand that it is this emerging evidence base that has led to clinicians across the UK deciding, in their professional opinion, that they no longer feel it is clinically appropriate or safe to continue prescribing puberty suppressants for children and young people with new presentations in GICs.
In the situation where there is an insufficient evidence base to support either efficacy or potential harm, it would be clinically and scientifically unsafe to proceed without further clinical trial evidence from properly designed trials. This is not just the case for puberty supressing hormones but for other medicines too.'

My emphasis.

'In Scotland, clinicians in NHS GGC and NHS Lothian have already identified concerns about the use of gender-affirming hormones in those under 18 years of age due to rising levels of concern around the short- and long-term use of these medicines in this age group. For this reason, they have paused the use of these medicines in those aged under 18 years in Scotland.
We are of a view that, as part of an individualised approach to care, there should be caution and a clear rationale for providing gender-affirming hormones for individuals aged under 18 years and where this happens it should be part of a shared decision-making conversation and be recorded. We would also suggest that further UK-wide research should evaluate the use of gender-affirming hormones in young people aged under 18 years which is linked to the wider aspirations of recommendation 8.
Medical Directors and Directors of Pharmacy should assure themselves that they are content that they have clear governance processes in place that include treatment protocols, multi-disciplinary peer support to clinicians prescribing in this area and clear professional line management and support.'

https://www.gov.scot/publications/cass-review-implications-scotland/pages/4/

So they are pressing on with cross sex hormones for children. So long as it's 'caution' and there's a 'clear rationale'.

I wonder what this 'rationale' looks like. And who is sharing this 'shared decision making'?

https://wingsoverscotland.com/your-children-will-be-harmed/

'There are thousands of words of boilerplate waffle and impenetrable jargon in the flurry of documentation that the Scottish Government released yesterday, but the few lines that we’ve highlighted above betray the reality of the situation and render everything else meaningless.
Far from being accepted, the findings of the Cass Review will be comprehensively ignored in Scotland. A maze of smoke and mirrors has been constructed to conceal the truth, but these new protocols and the accompanying guidance provide an easy route for anyone of any age to almost instantly access powerful and permanently life-altering medication without any meaningful scrutiny from a medical professional.'

I need to re-read - I thought I saw something that said that under 18s would not be prescribed hormones as a matter of course?

I wonder how Scottish GPs feel about this.

'The new Scottish NHS guidelines state that the basis for being prescribed hormones is “primarily based upon someone’s self-report” yet admits there is “no guarantee that endocrine [hormone] treatment will offer benefit to them, or to the extent desired”.'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/03/scottish-doctors-prescribe-hormones-patients-self-id-risks/

https://archive.ph/0leyA

'GPs will be able to prescribe cross-sex hormones to patients who diagnose themselves as transgender in Scotland under new NHS rules.
Under guidelines published on Tuesday, it is stated that testosterone or oestrogen prescriptions are to be given out to adults “primarily based on someone’s self-report” despite an admission that there is “no guarantee” they will help patients.
Previously, access to a specialist gender clinic was usually required to access hormone treatments on the Scottish NHS.
However, the new rules open the door to GPs being able to prescribe the drugs after taking account of guidance or taking specialist advice.'

Post from WRN Scotland:

'On the face of it appears the announcement about implementing #CASS was good news but as always the devil is in the detail. The first realisation that something wasn't right came with the lie from
@jenniminto
that our schools don't teach pupils about their gender identity.

Well anyone who has been paying attention this past few weeks would know all about the grip that LGBTYS has on our schools ranging from teaching materials to unsafe school policies on social transition which dismantle safeguarding. Next up two documents were also published today First https://healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/publications/standards-for-gender-identity-healthcare-services-for-adults-and-young-people/#:~:text=Overview%20of%20standards,and%20delivering%20gender%20identity%20services

It will come as no surprise that these standards don't reflect the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 Including "gender identity" instead of "gender reassignment"

Gender identity is defined as "a person’s sense of having a particular gender. It is a way of describing the gender with which a person identifies such as a trans man, trans woman or as non-binary" Trans people are defined as "An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs or does not fully correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. This includes, but is not limited to, trans men, trans women and non-binary people"

Transition is defined as "the process of changing the way a person lives in order to match up with their gender identity. Examples of transitioning include the person changing their name, asking people to use different pronouns to address them and changing the way the person expresses their gender.

For some people, accessing gender identity services will be for support, information and care. For others, it may involve medical treatments such as hormone therapy or surgery. "Transition” can mean different things to different people. Some people prefer the term gender reassignment

Standard 10 refers to standards for gender identity for young people but no definition of young people is provided. We know from other Scottish Government documents that young people includes children Second document https://frameworks.nes.digital/transgender-care-knowledge-and-skills-framework This is the transgender care kmowledge and skills framework which sets 4 levels of knowledge and skill those working in transgender care should have

Similar language is used across both "Please note that we use trans people as an umbrella term for people whose gender identity does not fully correspond with their sex recorded at birth. This includes, but is not limited to, trans men, trans women and non-binary people"

Plus worryingly a disregard of safeguarding issues "Consider the relevance of disclosing a person's gender identity when making a referral to another service. Are aware of the importance of respecting confidentiality around someone’s gender identity, including relevant legal requirements" This all leads us to conclude that
@scotgov
Is paying lip service to the #CASS recommendations with a focus on restructuring health care in Scotland to provide gender affirming care with no focus on evidence based concerns raised in the CASS Review'

https://x.com/WRNScotland/status/1831092716349882767

I've just skimmed bits and it all reads so vague and bland it could mean almost anything.

Is it? I'll need to read them tomorrow. <sigh>