GIDS being sued by their safeguarding lead.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

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My Details

My name is Sonia 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

Thanks, @FindTheTruth

meanwhile.... people's 'likes' of Hannah Barnes tweets are vanishing. Vanish likes - what a surprise. wrong side of history my arse.

Bloody hell, that was quite a ride.

@FindTheTruth

meanwhile.... people's 'likes' of Hannah Barnes tweets are vanishing. Vanish likes - what a surprise. wrong side of history my arse.

It's social engineering on an industrial scale. scary.

INAL but the impression I get is that this is all about evidence that staff were discouraged or prevented from speaking with Sonia Appleby

Yes. I suppose if enough witnesses are saying the same thing. Presumably the judge only needs to make findings on the balance of probabilities. I wonder what was in the "threatening letter"?

Thanks for the updates, FindTheTruth - really helpful. 🙂👍

Adding my thanks to you, FindTheTruth. I find it so much easier to read here than on Twitter, so am grateful for your efforts.

As for the substance, . Compelling, edge-of-the-seat stuff. Completely amazed to hear the GIDS “you’re all great big fat liars” (to paraphrase) take on things.

Yes, thank so much, FindTheTruth.

Can't believe I'm linking this, but ...

Here's a Daily Mail article with some info about the case:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9688895/amp/Whistleblower-suing-NHS-child-gender-clinic-warned-Savile-waiting-happen-tribunal-hears.html?

[quote InvisibleDragon]Can't believe I'm linking this, but ...

Here's a Daily Mail article with some info about the case:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9688895/amp/Whistleblower-suing-NHS-child-gender-clinic-warned-Savile-waiting-happen-tribunal-hears.html?[/quote]
Don't apologise. The Mail does some genuinely good journalism around this issue.

That is a good piece and covers a lot about Keira Bell as well. I also managed to miss all the stuff about Saville in the tweets

@FindTheTruth

comments he alleges were homophobic. He says other clinicians had similar concerns about this

Personal comment -- I knew there had been reports of homophobia by whistleblowers relating to the backgrounds of children and young people but it's eyeopening if it was happening to staff too. It's devastating (probably shouldn't be surprised 😣)

If this is indeed true, the implications are horrific.

INAL but my interpretation is that a big part of the case is about whether they discouraged / prevented staff from raising concerns with Sonia Appleby the safeguarding lead. Today we saw aggressive cross examination of both Witnesses AS and DB who were raising concerns. This DB timeline might help as the events were talked about in the court.

TIMELINE David Bell (DB) . . .
(Or at least what I can make of it).
Source: Guardian Article.

Feb 2018 10 GIDS staff, (1/3 of staff), brought their worries to David Bell unsolicited, Worries included:

• children seemed rehearsed, not sharing their parents urgency

• senior staff spoke of “straightforward cases”for puberty blockers
• treatment after just two appointments
• Children seen only infrequently thereafter
• inexperienced (and inexpensive) psychologists
• Homophobia towards staff
• 8 year old referred to an endocrinologist for treatment

2018 continues
A book with a DB introduction was removed from the Tavistock’s library.
DB spoke at a conference about de-transition and a member of GIDS’ staff attended, he says to spy on him.
DB was told that he was not allowed to write about, or to talk in public about, anything that wasn’t directly connected to hisemployment,

July 2018 DB met with hospital management to say he’d write a report. They said ok. So DB asks staff for data for the report. Paul Jenkins CEO, sends DB a letter saying that GIDS was very busy and that its staff were not obliged to answer DB.

September 2018 DB sends his report to Paul Jenkins CEO and to Paul Burstow, chairman of the board and they forbade him to send it to the council of governors. DB gets a lawyer who says he must send it or be culpable. So DB sends it to the council and gets a hostile note from Burstow.

October 2018 DB report is discussed at the council, who agree a review of GIDS led by Dinesh Sinha, the trust’s medical director

November 2018 DB received two letters threatening disciplinary action. He was asked to agree not to speak any further to Sonia Appleby, the trust’s director of child safeguarding

Dec? 2018 Sinha’s review was taking place, Bell asked for its terms of reference. He wanted to ensurestaff would be anonymous. Bell wrote to staff at GIDS, reminding them of their right, as NHS workers, to speak confidentially. At this point, he says, the trust “went ballistic… they interfered with my emails so I couldn’t write to them again”.

Feb 2019 Sinha’s review was delivered and Bell was not allowed to see it iniitially / or only given 30 minutes to read its 70 pages (it was later leaked to him in full). “There was still no data. It mentioned intimidation, but no action was [to be] taken. However, it did acknowledge the inappropriate involvement of trans ideology groups in the work of the service.” The report was approved by the board and the council of governors, although one consultant psychotherapist,Marcus Evans, accused the trust of having an “overvalued belief” in GIDS expertise and resigned.

Feb/March? 2019 DB's report was leaked to the press. the trust began to suggest that Bell was unqualified to write such a report and to suggest that the cases in it were hypothetical. (They were not.)

Early 2020 Tavi set up for disciplinary action to be taken against Bell. “All the grounds were in connection with my activities as a whistleblower,”. DB announces retirement.

2020 - 2021 Bell delays retirement due to pandemic, then retires.

The Mail seems to be the only paper currently covering this huge safeguarding story. It's quite prominent on the website.

I'm really, really concerned about the homophobia allegations - that it was widespread, and potentially systemic.

I've attended safeguarding training led by Sonia and she did mention Jimmy Saville. It was completely appropriate to do so and not misguided in any way. It is difficult to see how it could be interpreted as such. Perhaps their issue goes beyond Jimmy Saville simply being mentioned to something more specific?

@Threadbaretoe

I've attended safeguarding training led by Sonia and she did mention Jimmy Saville. It was completely appropriate to do so and not misguided in any way. It is difficult to see how it could be interpreted as such. Perhaps their issue goes beyond Jimmy Saville simply being mentioned to something more specific?

We all know the propensity of some people to misrepresent what's actually been said and go straight to their hyperbolic version.

looking back over all the testimony and DBs timeline (PP) what strikes me is that they not only dissuaded staff from raising concerns with the safeguarding lead, but from raising ANY concerns with ANYONE, including the council. It's extraordinary. hands over ears. don't say anything. don't say anything. Then when DB sent his independent report he was threatened repeatedly. Then when DB advised staff they had a right to speak confidentially, the CEO and chairman et al went 'balistic'. WTF sort of place is this? No-one is allowed to talk and is threatened if they do? seriously? and the way they went about their 'internal review' was a joke.

I hope Newsnight covers this whole case.

the nerves of steel of these wonderful people standing up and giving testimony. I hope for the sake of the children this get's overhauled to put safeguarding first.

WTF sort of place is this? No-one is allowed to talk and is threatened if they do? seriously? Didn't someone report that the NHS was a hostile place to work and that things improved for those on the front line during Covid but they didn't expect the support to remain.

Any organisation that can 'shut down' complaints or concerns is a very sick organisation (pun intended)

For people wanting more of the background leading up to the case, here's a post where I linked all Hannah Barnes' Newsnight reports:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4150929-T-rf-Wars-documentary-on-YouTube?msgid=104320809#104320809

Here's David Bell's brilliant Channel 4 interview:

www.channel4.com/news/children-have-been-very-seriously-damaged-by-nhs-gender-clinic-says-former-tavistock-staff-governor

And here are Sue and Marcus Evans talking about what they saw from the inside:

My god, that timeline!!

Here's an open letter to Dr Polly Carmichael from a former GIDS clinician, Kirsty Entwistle. Published in July 2019 it lists many issues with the service including,

I frequently voiced my concern that colleagues were not seeing abandonment/estrangement by a parent as an indicator of complexity. For me, this was another reason that made me feel so disoriented. In my Clinical Psychology training and in other services the loss of or abandonment by a parent would be something to be explored and the impact understood but I felt that at GIDS this factor was often minimised or dismissed.
^I was also shocked by the complexity of referrals. I read many referrals of children who have been sexually abused and many children have witnessed and/or been subjected to domestic violence.
I also felt that was an overrepresentation of the young people who were living in poverty. I had a young person whose family were living within such extreme financial constraints that he considered it a treat to buy a can of pop. I also had another young person who was living in a very complex and unstable arrangement who arrived to sessions in a poor state of hygiene and said that there wasn’t money for hygiene products. How is it ethical to undertake a gender identity assessment with the view to a medical pathway when there are children and young people do not have their most basic needs met?
In terms of complexity I also had on my caseload several young people who declined to communicate verbally or communicated verbally to a very limited extent. I think that at GIDS verbal communication difficulties are often minimised as transmales being afraid to speak because they have a ‘feminine voice’ but in all of these cases I believe that there was something more complex than that going on^

medium.com/@kirstyentwistle/an-open-letter-to-dr-polly-carmichael-from-a-former-gids-clinician-53c541276b8d

@FindTheTruth

looking back over all the testimony and DBs timeline (PP) what strikes me is that they not only dissuaded staff from raising concerns with the safeguarding lead, but from raising ANY concerns with ANYONE, including the council. It's extraordinary. hands over ears. don't say anything. don't say anything. Then when DB sent his independent report he was threatened repeatedly. Then when DB advised staff they had a right to speak confidentially, the CEO and chairman et al went 'balistic'. WTF sort of place is this? No-one is allowed to talk and is threatened if they do? seriously? and the way they went about their 'internal review' was a joke.

What struck me early on in the testimony was the astonishing accusation that the safeguarding lead and a junior doctor were “suspected of being transphobic”.

I realise that is the go-to excuse transactivists make that enables them to dismiss every argument that doesn’t fit their agenda, but this is a health service. Those running it should absolutely have some kind of rational understanding that there’s a need to listen to alternative viewpoints and give them careful consideration. Yet they appear to have been pretty much as dismissive as any Twitter TRA.

This whole case is mind melting. Thank you so much to everyone involved defending safeguarding.

@highame

WTF sort of place is this? No-one is allowed to talk and is threatened if they do? seriously? Didn't someone report that the NHS was a hostile place to work and that things improved for those on the front line during Covid but they didn't expect the support to remain.

Any organisation that can 'shut down' complaints or concerns is a very sick organisation (pun intended)

Unfortunately I know only too well from professional experience how quickly the NHS close ranks to cover up errors and avoid taking responsibility. I have also seen the most appalling bullying and treatment of staff if they don't toe the party line, it takes real strength to go against it.

The medical model and the social models of working struggle to work alongside each other and I can clearly see some of the issues in relation to that with this case. In general the NHS finds it difficult to work with Social Care because of this, and we're often perceived as the less important profession (being polite) in that setting. They do not like us questioning, probing or looking at alternative solutions, they see us as less qualified and often do not understand our role. I can absolutely believe that staff were discouraged from speaking to Sonia because of my experiences.