Telegraph: ‘Sturgeon’s Tavistock’ clinic offers trans treatments not backed by ‘robust evidence’

[ResisterRex]

A very long article about the Sandyford clinic in today's Telegraph:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/26/sturgeons-tavistock-clinic-offers-trans-children-surgery-not/

"A gender identity clinic’ branded “Sturgeon’s Tavistock” has been offering patients irreversible sex-change treatments despite senior clinicians admitting that its methods are not backed by “robust evidence”, a leaked recording showed.
The Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow, home to Scotland’s only gender identity clinicc_ for children, also authorised hormone treatment and referrals for surgical procedures for its patients after apparently rudimentary mental health assessments, according to unguarded comments by a senior clinician."

@MangyInseam
Thank you for posting your experience. I found that a better explanation of at least some professional involvement in this bizarre area than the knee jerk of ‘they must be evil’.

I am sure that there are some who are truly malicious, sadistic or possibly envious of normality. Your acquaintance, though, chimes with what I have observed of several, maybe many, women’s attitudes. They are so eager to be ‘tolerant’ and ‘accepting ‘ , all the good qualities that have been wrapped up in the bundle of ‘be kind’ , that their natural discrimination ( in the proper and original sense of the word) has been subsumed into passivity in the face of damage.

I used to be a member of the WI . We had a ‘talk’ from a MTF who had been married to an official of the organisation. They were eagerly promoting the necessity of accepting MTF into female spaces, because they are, of course, ‘women’ . Afterwards at coffee, the members were gushing about how nice the speaker was ( though there was quite a bit of unintentional misgendering, due to the physical actuality of the speaker),and how there was obviously nothing to worry about in welcoming people like the speaker into womens spaces.

So I thought ‘ o, be brave’ and said that I didn’t agree, I thought it was open to abuse by less benign persons than the speaker, and although I didn’t mind the dress and the lipstick, I didn’t think that made them acceptable in intimate spaces. There was a bit of silence. Then rather a lot of quiet agreement.

the speaker and the spouse no longer live in the same county as each other , btw.

The Scottish Telegraph story is actually on the whole UK version, front page.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/31/children-young-nine-prescribed-puberty-blockers-nicola-sturgeon/

The word salad Scottish Government response: "The academic paper outlines clinical matters relevant to both accessing and delivering specialist clinical care. Decisions on the type if treatment to prescribe are rightly for clinicians to make in consultation with their patients."

Or they could just say: The Government doesn't give a rat's arse about children being put on irreversible medication that can cause destroy sexuality, cause osteoporosis, sterility and who knows what else damage, plus a lifelong need for treatment - and for which there is no good evidence.

What's up with Sturgeon that a minority of activists can have such a hold over her?

I wonder if Stutgeon got caught up when it was all 'be kind', a lot of us did. Then more came out, but Sturgeon needed the Greens. I think she's too stubborn, has invested too much political capital, is too stupid and wilfully blind to backtrack.

I think sturgeon is blinded by the desperate need to position herself as more progressive than the rUK on everything. She saw on twitter that there was talk of the ‘right side of history’ and backed her horse.

It’s hard for her to change course, especially when the UK government is doing so. There’s no easy sound bite to explain a change in policy direction, and certainly not one that doesn’t look like she’s following the Tories without much explanation and effort.

So she’s stuck and has her fingers in her ears chanting about how progressive she is.

Plus she needs the Scottish greens. And their grip on reality is tenuous at best.

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/11/01/jk-rowling-backs-snp-rebel-nicola-sturgeons-trans-law-tug-of/

Last Thursday, seven SNP MSPs defied the party whip to vote against the first Holyrood vote on the Bill, which signified support for its “general principles”, while a further two abstained.

Ms Regan, who had held office since 2018, became the first nationalist minister in the history of devolution to resign on a matter of principle.

In a terse reply to her resignation letter, Ms Sturgeon noted that “at no stage have you approached me – or indeed the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice – to raise your concerns”.

However, it emerged shortly afterwards Ms Regan had signed an open letter in 2019 expressing doubts about “changing the definition of male and female”.

Accusing Ms Sturgeon of misleading the public about the circumstances of her resignation, she said: “The First Minister was well aware of the concerns that I held on this issue."

Ash is an absolute star, she is the one on the right side of history. . She is brave, has integrity & intelligence.

Sturgeon is a liar. She knew full well. She is a disgrace and an embarrassment.

Another comment piece in the Telegraph

archive.ph/2022.11.02-142016/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/02/nicola-sturgeons-trans-crusade-will-cost-dearly/

cor, that's blistering

Ouffff! Thank you for the link.

Between this the ferries and the financial crisis in Scottish finance this could end her🤞

I can’t believe she can just ignore all the warnings coming from Cass. She must be incredibly stupid as well as negligent.

Ah. But they’re about England.

Scottish children are completely different because they live in sturgeon’s enlightened utopia. obviously!

🙄

In today's Times:

Gender clinic staff tried to blow whistle over safety

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/900b5aa0-5b06-11ed-9b1f-f7c251e9dfdc?shareToken=a58c50c316da5f0ef2f271f68187723e

"In response to a request using Freedom of Information (FoI) laws lodged by The Times, the health board NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed they “hold information relating to concerns raised by staff under whistleblowing policies”.

The board provided the statement more than a month after the legal deadline for responding to FoI questions and refused to disclose details of the concerns raised.

It also disclosed there have been 89 complaints about the clinic investigated over the past five years, of which 67 were either upheld or partially upheld."

That’s a big percentage of upheld complaints.
I wonder why they won’t release details?
Hopefully the wheels are coming off now.

Wow most of the complaints were made in the last year. I wonder what the actual numbers are for just this past year

I’m not surprised at the delays in responding to FOIs. When I sent an FOI asking for various stats, they just ignored me. When I asked for them to carry out a review into my FOI, they ignored me. I had to escalate to the ICO who told them to respond which they then did within 24 hours - clearly had the report completed for me, just weren’t going to send it until told they had to.

It's a shame the FOIs weren't returned in a timely manner especially if there are examples of ones turned round in 24 hours. If they'd been processed sooner, it may have further informed the Gender Bill vote.

Mm wonder why the delay? Couldn't possibly have been politically motivated could it?

I hope that MPs are being made aware of this. There needs to be an investigation into the Sandyford. The Scottish government have already said they will ignore the Cass Report. How do we press for an inquiry they will listen to?

Arabella I think it would be useful for people to write to SIGN www.sign.ac.uk asking them to either carry out a review similar to that of the Cass Review or to tag onto the NHSE work. I would emphasise that the Cass Review had an independent unbiased expert assigned to lead it and such impartiality would also be required in Scotland (ie it cannot be left to Sandyford or the NGICNS to oversee it.

Does SIGN have any standing in Scotland as Health is a devolved matter?

SIGN looks Scottish, to me?

Thanks, rogdmum.

Yes, it’s SIGN Scotland that I linked to

More in the Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/03/nicola-sturgeon-pressure-shut-scotlands-gender-clinic-children/

"Nicola Sturgeon has come under growing pressure to shut down Scotland's only gender clinic for childrenn_ after it emerged staff raised concerns about the site for years.
Whistleblowers at the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow have submitted reports over the past five years to senior clinicians about the running of the sexual health hub for under-18s as well as adults, documents reveal.
Feminist campaigners have demanded the SNP leader immediately shut down the "scandal-ridden clinic" before "more harm is done to our children".
The First Minister has refused to launch an investigation into Sandyford, despite critics highlighting its services are nearly identical to those offered by the Tavistock clinic in Londonn_ - which was shut down following a damning review by Dr Hilary Cass in February this year.
The SNP leader has also earmarked £9 million of taxpayers' money to slash waiting times for gender clinics across the country."

Also

"Calls for the clinic's closure intensified on Thursday when the NHS health board representing Sandyford admitted they “hold information relating to concerns raised by staff under whistleblowing policies”.
However, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) told the Times newspaper, which had submitted a request for the documents under the Freedom of Information Act, that it would not be "in the public interest" to divulge what the concerns were.
Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Tory spokesperson for gender, said she was "concerned" that staff have raised alarms about practices at Sandyford and demanded the board publish what the warnings are.
She said: “In the interests of openness and transparency, I think the health board ought to reveal what the whistleblowers’ concerns relate to without compromising their anonymity.”
Trina Budge, director of For Women Scotland, said: “The situation at the Sandyford seems to be spiralling out of control.
"Perhaps the Scottish Government's plans to implement controversial WPATH [World Professional Association for Transgender Health] guidance which removes the minimum age at which children can access experimental drugs and surgery has not been well received by clinicians.
"Nicola Sturgeon needs to engage with the Cass Review recommendationss_ and take immediate steps to close down this scandal-ridden clinic before more harm is caused to our children""