Public Consultation - Interim Service Spec for Specialist Gender Dysphoria Services for Children/Young People

[rogdmum]

This is what was leaked by Reuters last week and is now live:

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/specialised-commissioning/gender-dysphoria-services/

There’s a fair chunk on social transition on pages 15/16:

”Not all adolescents will want or benefit from social transition. The provision of approaches to support social transition may be considered in cases where:
• Gender dysphoria has been diagnosed, is consistent and persistent; AND
• Associated needs and risks have been considered and are being addressed
or supported; AND
• The young person expresses a clear wish to affirm their gender transition and fully understands the implications of affirming a social transition (informed consent); AND
• The proposed clinical approach is necessary for the alleviation, or prevention of, clinically significant distress or impairment in social functioning in the individual.

In these cases the clinical approach will involve a focus on exploring or supporting (as appropriate to the individual) social transition through psychological support and interventions, family work/therapy and guidance for the local professional network”

And what Reuters reported on accessing prescriptions from online/unregulated providers is included (page 16)

”Prescribing from unregulated sources and unregulated providers
Children, young people and their families are strongly discouraged from sourcing GnRHa and masculinising / feminising hormone drugs from unregulated sources or from on-line providers that are not regulated by UK regulatory bodies. In such cases The Service will make the child or young person and their family aware of the risks, contraindications and any irreversible or partly reversible effects of the drugs and will advise the GP to initiate local safeguarding protocols.”

Agreed.

Bump!

Working on it now.

Just bumping this. My broadband been down for days but it's back on now (must not procrastinate)
Thought I'd share response from WPATH
listloop.com/wpath/mail.cgi/archive/adhoc/20221125183220/

I had to laugh at the references in that WPATH response. Coleman et al. 2022 is WPATH's latest Standards of Care.

How dare the NHS not follow the 'international best practise' that was determined by experts such as SG?

I'm not a statistician but surely this attempt to minimise the percentage of children referred is incorrect.

If they feel the annual rate of 5000 child referrals is a reasonable and sustainable level then to estimate the chances of an individual child being referred it needs to be multiplied by 15 (for each year between 3 and 17)

As two thirds of referrals are girls this would mean that approximately 1% of all natal girls would be referred to a gender service before their 18th birthday.

Do they not see a problem with this?

So WPATH claim that:
The idea that gender incongruence is transient in pre-pubertal children to be outdated and untrue
That discouraging social transition in pre-pubertal children is a bad thing
That exploring a child or young person’s co-existing mental health, neuro-developmental and/or family or social complexities is inequitable, discriminatory, and misguided
Are horrified if doctors “initiate local safeguarding protocols if a child is getting drugs from a illegal / unregistered sources
And claim that the proposals will increase the enormous harm and exacerbate the higher rates of suicidality .
(bolding mine)

When an organisation has such an alarming focus on transitioning very young children, is against rounded mental health care for a child's co morbidities as well as opposing safeguarding children using drugs from illegal sources, they really are showing society what a threat they are to children.

Abso-bloody-lutely MrsOverton !

Sex Matters have uploaded their response too:

sex-matters.org/posts/updates/response-to-the-nhs-spec/

Thanks Rex. Was looking for this yesterday for another poster. Thought it was already out. Must have confused with another one. Explains why I couldn't find it!
Hopefully other thread poster will find it. Replying to bump in the hope of this as I can't find that thread either! Butterfingers

This is fantastic. Looking at Gay Mens network, transgender trend, and sexmatters responses all together, they really have everything covered. It's is so good to have the issues covered from all angles. I like how they refer, make links to, and challenge specific responses from gendered intelligences and wpath etc too.
Reading them, it's so hard to imagine that the clarity and sense won't prevail, but it's hard too, with all the capture, not to doubt.
If the points made aren't taken in board it really will be difficult to maintain hope.

4th Dec is last date for submissions.

Did mine yesterday. Basically I used Transgender Trend, but added some bits-

In 3A, (composition of the clinical team) I also talked about the dangers of any staff member being influenced by being related to a 'transitioned child', and so having a vested interest in getting more children on the same pathway.
Also that no member of the team should be a male AGP for the same reasons. It clouds their judgement.

Q 7 (about the EIA)
This section needs to be talking about the indirect discrimination to others. Eg no pupil should be expected to use the wrong-sex descriptors for anyone. Girls must not be expected to accommodate boys in their wcs etc
The 'religion and belief' section of the EIA doesn't mention the importance of the MAYA FORESTATER judgement. Others must not be expected to go along with Gender Identity, which is a quasi-religious belief system.
The EIA in the consultation just talks about the individual - whereas it should be talking of the impact that individual has on wider society (that's what an Impact Assessment is supposed to do). Especially that no women should be expected to accommodate blokes in single-sex spaces.

Hope this helps.

Bump as deadline is looming

Can't believe I almost forgot!!! Thank you

That never gets old. 😀

The consultation does not ask for your name, and email is optional, so I'd think that everyone is safe to do a submission, even if you don't want your name out there 🙂

Oh look, Mermaids have roped in a tame paediatrician and parent of a primary-age trans child to comment.

So clearly an absolutely unbiased view.

No not really. Lots of 'dismayed to read' and 'what I found shocking'.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/im-worried-about-the-future-of-healthcare-for-trans-youth-a-parents-view/

Bump as the MM story will get a lot of attention and this closes on 4 Dec

Ditto!

The bump worked. I've just done it. You don't have to write anything, you can just click on agree, partially agree etc, or write something for some questions and not others.

Deadline is Monday. Don't know whether that means beginning or end of Monday. I think it's usually the end of the day of the deadline?

Bumpety Bump. Deadline is Monday. Everyone who agrees with Cass please respond this weekend. This is so important.

Thanks so much for the reminder! December seemed ages away and suddenly it's here! Will do it this weekend.

I've already submitted mine so too late for me, but does anyone else want to refer to this new GETA guidance in their response?

Closes tomorrow night!

Done. My partner will do hers later.

I’m really short on time this weekend but do want to respond. Can someone be very generous and point me to the quickest C&Pable guide to to how to respond that I can adapt? I’m also a relative of a transitioned child but not a parent, can I still respond? TIA