Reuters leak info on NHS England’s plans for new paediatric gender service

[TheClogLady]

www.reuters.com/world/uk/exclusive-nhs-drafts-stricter-oversight-trans-youth-care-2022-10-14/

Extract:

In England, a years-long wait for gender care has led some young people to seek medications through unregulated online pharmacies, or privately. These include therapies that block the onset of puberty or hormone treatments for older people, which are used to help transgender adolescents develop secondary sexual characteristics aligned with their gender identity. GenderGP, a private provider of treatments for transgender patients, told Reuters it has prescribed such medications to hundreds of youth.

The draft guideline says that if NHS professionals decide a patient should not be taking puberty blockers or hormone treatments obtained privately, they can advise the patient's primary care doctor to initiate "safeguarding protocols."
The draft does not spell out why safeguarding measures would be taken or what that would entail. But under NHS protocols, "safeguarding teams" are made up of representatives of the police, medical and social services professionals who are responsible for ensuring a child's safety and well-being.

Archive: web.archive.org/web/20221014150656/www.reuters.com/world/uk/exclusive-nhs-drafts-stricter-oversight-trans-youth-care-2022-10-14/

Guardian story on the above, archive: web.archive.org/web/20221014171554/www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/14/young-trans-people-accessing-treatment-outside-nhs-may-get-safeguarding-

This is being reported in the Telegraph:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/18/children-buying-puberty-blockers-could-referred-police-social/

I hope so.

I am doing an undergrad psychology research project this year. I'm not, under any circumstances, allowed to include under 18s in my research for ethical reasons. At age 17 the teen is considered unable to consent to participation in a survey, even if the survey is about what people think about homework.

But yeah, I'm allowed to tell a 13 year old that I won't tell their parents he's sourcing powerful drugs online, the sort used to chemically castrate sex offenders in some countries.

So I'm hoping that this will be taken as seriously as it should be.

A few weeks ago, our regional safeguarding team emailed all the paediatric consultants in the region to caution about the existence of online suppliers of puberty blockers, without any proper oversight, and how paediatricians needed to be aware of this safeguarding risk. It was refreshing to see it.

Excellent! Glad awareness is being raised