GIDS rated ‘inadequate’ by CQC

[TheFleegleHasLanded]

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/20/gender-identity-development-service-for-children-rated-inadequate

Theyre going to keep pushing the "massive waiting list because sooo many troubled kids out there" angle because people will be sympathetic to that

they've gone way too far now to ever admit they have behaved in a cavalier and un professional manner. They have to die on this hill now. Its a shame but they wont admit any wrong doing and will just double down. No room for nuance just a relentless bulldoozing of anyone who asks questions including sadly their own staff

In reply to an earlier post up-thread, I have seen posts on twitter that suggest some of the staff may be unable to be objective about what is in a patient's best interests for their own personal reasons.

I've heard it said that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail and I think this could be the same thing. In general, it's often difficult for people to avoid evangelising the treatment/therapy/medication that worked for them as the Answer for anyone with similar symptoms. As I'm sure anyone who has ever suffered from a chronic condition knows. Don't get me on to What Got Rid of My Verrucas

@MerchedCymru

This is a major scandal. I'm beyond furious at the careless dismissal of autistic kids; at the total lack of interest in co-morbidities, childhood abuse, trauma; lack of curiosity at the high number of kids from foster care, or the increasing number of girls. No proper notes. No consideration of best practice in similar areas of mental health provision. No follow up. No bloody compassion at all.

The whole lot of them should be struck off.

Indeed.

The overall impression is that they are ideologically trying to shoehorn a whole bunch of children, with disparate and separate problems, through a diagnosis that has no basis in science.

Gender identity disorder, or gender dysphoria is a symptom. Of numerous different problems. And they are trying to nail a single treatment to it, whilst ignoring its cause.

No wonder every thing, every single thing, is characterised by inconsistency.

Some children had fifty sessions! What kind of person thinks that a child who has fifty sessions, is suffering from exactly the same problem as a child who is waved through with two.

The report said that the notes of sessions were just descriptions of what was said, with no analysis. How could you analyse something that relies on definitions like 'shifting constellations', to describe how a child is feeling?

And that's not even meant to be facetious.

A child will be subjected to a myriad of data, online, telling them that their specific problem is all down to being trans.

And yes as many posters have said, of course the children should be subjected to some kind of triage. You funnel out those with autism and those with trauma to experts in the field, and those who are same-sex attracted, to an expert in the possible psychological problems attached to that.

I predict it would solve the problem of the long waiting lists overnight.

I have never met yet a person who, when told of the huge increase in children showing up at gender clinics, doesn't immediately ask why?

Relying on waiting lists as a defence, isn't going to wash.

It is incredibly disingenuous of the service to spin this as being because of long waiting lists.

The language in the CQC report is unequivocal and damning.

I'm only on p10 and ...

^We reviewed 35 care records. We found these records to be unstructured. Records did not provide evidence to show
what staff were assessing. There was no clear rationale for clinical decision making.
Staff completed an assessment of each patient, although these assessments were completely unstructured.^

This is CQC equivalent of the judges in the Bell ruling being "surprised". It's incredibly bad.

@PotholeParadies

In reply to an earlier post up-thread, I have seen posts on twitter that suggest some of the staff may be unable to be objective about what is in a patient's best interests for their own personal reasons.

I've heard it said that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail and I think this could be the same thing. In general, it's often difficult for people to avoid evangelising the treatment/therapy/medication that worked for them as the Answer for anyone with similar symptoms. As I'm sure anyone who has ever suffered from a chronic condition knows. Don't get me on to What Got Rid of My Verrucas

Agreed Pothole. This is a major factor in all this. All these self interested adults overlaying their own experiences on other people's children, using organisations to push their own personal agenda. So much of the 'trans' training is fronted by individuals talking about their own journeys and making false allegations about how this can then be applied / replicated in the general population.

[quote rogdmum]Well Paul Jenkins has no intention of resigning...

[/quote] From that statement:

We will also continue to support Dr Hilary Cass who has been commissioned by NHS England to make recommendations on the care provided to children and young people questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender incongruence.

What does it mean for a child to be "questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender incongruence"?

What are the symptoms? What are the causes? Why would any of this ever require a medical solution which treats their body rather than their mind?

The HCPC really need to follow up the claims of poor record keeping. The need for good record keeping is Rule 101 and it is appalling that standards are so low.

It strikes me that so many GC feminists make disclaimers that they acknowledge that transition, even early transition, might be the best solution for a number of people, but they think the net has been spread too wide and that people whose dysphoria wouldnt have been persistent are being scooped up.

Do we see transitioned people acknowledging that some children and teens experience puberty and gender related distress that does resolve without surgical or hormonal intervention?

The skillmix of the organisation also sounds wrong, given all the changes in patients presenting.

60+ psychologists, 2 psychiatrists and admin staff.

No-one with expertise in autism, ADHD or physical illness.

What other health care set up looks like this, we're all in multi-disciplinary teams! It sounds like a massive echo chamber.

Where were the social workers, mental health nurses, psychiatrists, autism specialists? As the patient group changed why didn't the service change with it?

I wonder if part of the reasoning behind their approach of focusing on the waiting times (other than making waiting times an easy “scapegoat”) is to appease the Mermaids parents who they see as their “customers” - because really, they are treated like customers. The Mermaids parents won’t care about slapdash record keeping/consent gathering- they just want their kids onto the medical path ASAP. Parents who want proper talk therapy to identify and resolve the underlying issues are just a bothersome nuisance to be swatted away.

Two positive BBC takeaways:

1. Newsnight is on the case and their reporter feels able to tweet facts openly.

1. Ben Hunte's output appears to be being monitored. Important and he was a prime offender in BBC pro-T bias.

Both actually huge steps. Keira seems to have set off an avalanche.

Paul Jenkins? Is that the person who was banging on about publicity and promotion and increasing their client base in the board meeting minutes we were looking at?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4104122-Tavistock-puberty-blocker-study-published?pg=8

I’m thinking yes because here’s an interview from when he started in the role: archive.is/RcjKF

Extract:

The Tavistock and Portman is one of the smallest NHS trusts in the country. Is it safe from being merged with another trust?
He replied: “I don’t think size matters as long as you are dynamic and maybe growing a bit. If you are marooned, moribund and shrinking, then you will be a target. We have to make sure that we can secure the things that we already do and also look for new opportunities.”

And here’s one from when the 3 parter about the Tavistock went out on channel 4

www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/736765/channel-4-kids-on-the-edge-documentary-mental-health-issues-children-self-harm-depression

Extract:

Paul Jenkins, chief executive of Tavistock, adds: “We’ve been working with the documentary makers for several years to make a sensitive, thoughtful documentary that explores how we deliver our essential services.

The series aims to challenge stigma and promote awareness and better understanding of mental health and identity issues. We hope it will touch young people and families who are experiencing similar issues, or may need help.”

Oh, look! Turns out the Tavistock co produced the TV series:

tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/about-us/news/stories/ground-breaking-series-to-focus-on-childrens-services-at-the-tavistock-and-portman-nhs-foundation-trust/

So a CEO who actively sought to promote GIDS in the media, in order to increase patient numbers and thus secure increasingly high value contracts from NHS England, is today saying (from the description in the Youtube video

‘In recent times, the Gender Identity Development Service has found itself in the middle of a cultural and political battleground. This followed a rapid rise in referrals which has been hard to manage, both in terms of the numbers but also the wide range and often complex needs of patients seeking support.
I entirely accept we have struggled to manage our waiting lists and agree with the CQC’s assessment that the growth in referrals has exceeded our capacity. As a result, vulnerable young people and their families have not had adequate access to the care they expect and deserve. I would like to apologise for falling short in our support of young people and families. I know from my own inbox just how challenging these long waits are, particularly in the current climate.’

It’s like he took a shit on the floor and blamed it on the dog.

I'm not sure if it's already been mentioned but CQC also inspected the GIDS endocrinology clinics at UCHL and Leeds General. Those reports were also released today

api.cqc.org.uk/public/v1/reports/f872eff5-95f8-43ac-b258-6eb38615358c?20210120080042

api.cqc.org.uk/public/v1/reports/361b12c1-d97a-4f23-afd3-1d72becd9c2a?20210120080042

How many future people on that future waiting list could have their lives positively changed if the UK adopted the Swedish government's approach recently?

Presenting a very balanced view with NO glamorisation of the negatives of transition etc.

genderreport.ca/the-swedish-u-turn-on-gender-transitioning/

That government seems to be ensuring better mental health care and apparently rejecting that it is dehumanising to look further into underlying health conditions.

On BBC Radio London they've mentioned it on all today's news bulletins as being rated inadequate solely as a result of the long waiting lists. No other failures mentioned. So sick of this BBC bias.

That would be a lot healthier, certainly.

At the moment GIDS are framing the media-inspired uptick in gender distressed children and adolescents as a positive thing

www.researchgate.net/publication/343271528_Association_of_Media_Coverage_of_Transgender_and_Gender_Diverse_Issues_With_Rates_of_Referral_of_Transgender_Children_and_Adolescents_to_Specialist_Gender_Clinics_in_the_UK_and_Australia/fulltext/5f33aff5299bf13404bad7e5/Association-of-Media-Coverage-of-Transgender-and-Gender-Diverse-Issues-With-Rates-of-Referral-of-Transgender-Children-and-Adolescents-to-Specialist-Gender-Clinics-in-the-UK-and-Australia.pdf?origin=publication_detail

A key point here is the lack of consistent documentation of capacity & consent- if anyone treated wishes to sue GIDS in the future & GIDS haven't documented assessment of capacity for a minor, or informed consent- the NHS would have to settle as they couldn't possibly defend a claim.

Exactly Simarillion
I am shocked that more than very occasional historical cases of no recorded consent have come to light. That seems to speak to a systemic cultural problem- not just one or two poor record-keepers, as can sometimes happen.

I’d have thought a service of this kind would be all about carefully evidencing their Gillick assessment of each child patient’s capacity to consent to any proposed treatment and then very carefully evidencing any consent that discussion with the child may have produced?

Its so far outside the norms of good practice which all patients should be able to expect. I feel really sad for their patients and their families that have put all their trust into this, they must feel massively let down.

What kind of external inspection and internal audit were they having at these clinics during all these years? How was this or any of the other areas of concern not pulled up much sooner, triggered by all the whistleblowers raising issues?

Healthcare needs to be overseen by internal and external bodies consistently and in depth to properly protect patients, however well-intentioned the healthcare professionals are. I’d imagine that as GIDS is coming under more scrutiny, lots of other bodies will do too.

Very brief statement from Mermaids.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/respond-to-the-cqc-report-into-gids/

Also nothing from Foxy, as yet.

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

That is an atrocious report and absolutely not just about waiting times. I found it interesting that the dispassionate outsiders (CQC) found the service to be generally terrible but those in the bubble (children/parents) thought it was amazing.

Kind of echoes the whole give me what I want and everyone who highlights concerns is a hateful transphobe.

I wonder how many of those parents / service users were coached by a certain mythical sea creature charity in how to respond to questions from the CQC about GIDS?

@OhHolyJesus

Very brief statement from Mermaids.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/respond-to-the-cqc-report-into-gids/

Also nothing from Foxy, as yet.

She’s fucking blinkered. If she thinks this is just about waiting times she’s so mistaken. Any fool who reads this report can see that the issues lie far far deeper than extended waiting lists.

Also nothing from Foxy, as yet.

He's too busy banging on about ''opaquely funded organisations pretending to be feminists backed by the far right''. 🙄

twitter.com/CUPWomensPledge/status/1351825977203175425

I'm genuinely horrified. I knew from the Bell case that there were gaps or convenient blind spots in the submitted reports but to discover that they had routinely not given a damn about consent?!

As PPs have stated, this reads less like a medical service and more like an ideological centre. I would use a different term but I imagine monitors won't like it.

It must be an incredibly difficult place to work. How to do the right thing for the child sitting in front of you, especially when the child has been told that anyone who disagrees with them is a bigot. Very hard to build a therapeutic relationship or a position of curiosity from such a poor start. Children and their parents seem to be encouraged (by orgs such as Mermaids) to complain if they don't get what they want which adds to the difficulty. Throw in the ideologically driven bullshit at the top.