Telegraph - Puberty blockers given to almost all children referred by Tavistock

[oviraptor21]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/20/puberty-blockers-given-almost-children-sent-assessment-tavistock/

The NHS gender identity service’s own data shows that 96 per cent of children sent for assessment to endocrinology clinics were given puberty blockers.

Separate figures show that 98 per cent of children who were given puberty blockers went on to be given cross-sex hormones that cause irreversible physical changes in their bodies.

I'm sorry I don't have a share token for the Telegraph.

I know this is slightly old news given that the Tavistock is closing later this year. Let's hope there is a little more oversight of referrals so that it is possible to step off what looks worryingly like a conveyor belt.

This is appalling.

I wonder if there will be litigation further on down the line by these children who, I think, have strong grounds to claim they were abused by this 'medical treatment'

It's gloves off time now that Alistair Jack has publicly stated that so called trans rights remove women's rights and the safeguarding of women and children. Add to that the wonderful display of aggressive misogyny by the SNP and Labour MPs in parliament has proved the lie of both sides. Things really don't seem to be going the way the TRAs want anymore, it's almost as if Joe public is waking up and smelling the coffee.

Sorry posted on the wrong thread 🤦‍♀️but still slightly appropriate

from the article

Puberty blockers are controversial because clinicians say they buy time for children to decide whether they want to change sex by halting their physical development, but critics say they effectively “lock in” children on the path to becoming transgender.

Out of 44 children given puberty blockers who took part in a study by Gids and University College London Hospitals, all but one went on to take cross-sex hormones.

Aidan Kelly, who worked as a clinician at Gids from 2016-21, told the Guardian that some staff had doubts about whether the children they were treating were in fact transgender, or should instead have been receiving help for other conditions including autism.

Like others who have worked at the clinic, he said those concerns “weren’t being heard”, partly because staff were struggling to keep up with demand from the sheer number of children being referred to the clinic, which increased more than twentyfold between 2011 and 2021.

Out of 44 children given puberty blockers who took part in a study by Gids and University College London Hospitals, all but one went on to take cross-sex hormones

I wonder if this links with a new legal fund raiser launched a few days ago by Dr Lynne Amidon, a consultant psychotherapist, with whistleblowing related claims against the Tavi.

As I suggested on the gardening thread I understand that if it gets to court it could bring major sunlight, and presumably help protect other health professionals concerned about proper safeguarding of children.

This is not really surprising. If the gender ideology therapists deemed a child is trans and told the endocrinologists that hormone therapy was best for them, the endocrinologists wouldn’t have the guts/capacity/interest* in challenging that notion.

Which is why in the long run when the patients suffer the long term physical consequences, the therapists will blame the endocrinologists and the endocrinologists will blame the therapists and they’ll both get off scot free.

*delete as applicable.

Your big letters @Boiledbeetle is something which bears repeating over and over to all those who suggest that PBs don't inevitably lead to CSHs.

The lack of understanding we have about the effects on brain development is a concern.

It's a horrifying statistic. And yeah how can they peddle the line about it just being a pause and giving the child time to think.

That's shite and they know it.

Once you are on any sort of medicated pathway it's incredibly hard to get off it, regardless of what the medication is.

"Once you are on any sort of medicated pathway it's incredibly hard to get off it, regardless of what the medication is"

Quite right Boiled. Add to that the social and emotional pressure of having to admit to yourself and others that you've taken these toxic experimental drugs that have likely impaired your body, voice, bone & brain development, let alone the impact on your future fertility. That takes real courage to admit that you were wrong (when you were 11, 12, 14 or 16). And if you bought these covertly online from the struck off dodgy doctors then you can't even blame your parents / teachers for failing to protect you as it was all your own doing.

I’m surprised it’s not higher. I get the impression that any “assessment” or “diagnosis” is done by GIDS and all the endocrinologists do is prescribe off the back of those assessments. I wonder if the 4% are not suitable due to health concerns or if they change their minds right at the last minute?

Although these aren’t very big studies are they. You’d think there would be more data.

I am appalled - but not surprised - that such lack of data was possible in what is experimental treatment of children.

I know someone undergoing experimental cancer treatment in the US. The data from his treatment is hugely important because it evidences what works and what doesn't.

Isn't evidence-based medicine the gold standard of treatment, until you need experimental treatment in which case increasing the body of evidence (including around side effects) is what leads to new, better treatments?

So why is data-based evidence not important when treating children, who have been referred to as part of the most vulnerable group in society?

Thinking about that too much actually makes me feel nauseous.