Newsnight 14 April - the new GIDS - BBC2 at 10:30pm

[ResisterRex]

On R4 earlier (c 08:06), there was a short piece on the fact that some people from the old service are reportedly in particular roles and / training new staff in the new service. Sajid Javid has "expressed concern" about this.

One is reportedly a current senior clinician, favouring an affirmative approach according to the R4 report just earlier. They had a short clip of Dr Bell too. Ended saying its on Newsnight tonight on BBC2 at 10:30.

There needs to be a clear out in HR departments and the new HR needs to clear out other departments.

It was disconcerting to listen to. Reassurance was given with a comment that apparently the new centres will abide by the finding of the Cass Review. I'd imagine there'd be considerable wriggle-room there.

So good this on the Today programme and not just being discussed here.

Hannah Barnes featuring in the clip.
So pleased this is getting air time.

It's very concerning to think that the same unquestioning affirmative approach could be simply transferred into regional services. Guess which GP is apparently working with the planned Welsh gender service?

Dr Adrian Harrop - MBChB, MRCGP - GP, w/ SI in Gender-Affirmative Healthcare - Cardiff and Vale University Health Board | LinkedIn

This is exactly what some of us were afraid would happen. Good that Newsnight are on to it though and that Today are covering it too.

I think it's unreasonable to expect that the new clinics can be fully staffed by experienced practitioners who haven't worked at GIDS. It's a specialist field and experts will be hard to come by. Not everyone at GIDS was a raging TRA! Many wanted to speak out but felt unable to.

I think the new services will be operating under close scrutiny and hopefully to the Cass recommendations. Be nice to see those soon, it's taking an age.

It's a specialist field and experts will be hard to come by.

Seems pretty clear that those running and working at GIDS are far from being specialists. They are not practicing evidence-based medicine, there is no data to inform the best approach. The clinicians were all practicing in different ways and muddling through based on what each of them thought was best for their patients. Some clinicians thought this was fast tracking patients onto a medicalised pathway and others thought it was to keep them away from that pathway for as long as possible. It was basically pot luck.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65245498

Article on it now on bbc news.

Following criticism of the old service, the BBC has now learned of concerns about two members of staff appointed to train new staff at the regional hubs.

One is a senior clinician at Gids who says they are "devoted" to an affirmative approach to young people presenting with gender difficulties, and that "social justice" underpins all their work.

Another person appointed, who is not employed by Gids or the trust that runs it, has openly questioned Dr Hilary Cass and NHS England's more cautious stance on social transition - the changing of a young person's name, pronouns, and way they dress. Dr Cass and NHS England argued that it is not a neutral act, and that it can have a psychological impact on children.

Meanwhile, some applicants invited for interview for roles at the new services were initially informed that Polly Carmichael, who has been in charge of Gids since 2009, would be on the interviewing panel - a decision the BBC understands was later reversed.

We need accountability, striking off and prosecutions. Nothing else will solve the issue.

'Reform' which is literally just moving the furniture about is not good enough.

I've lost track of what happened following the consultation on the proposed interim services. The proposals were definitely concerning because they still had buy in to the idea that some children are trans and need puberty blockers/cross sex hormones.

I seem to recall the consultation beginning with terms like "gender dysphoria" quickly giving way to "gender identity". And way too much room for interpretation on social transitioning.

Sex Matters, Transgender Trend and the Gay Men's Network did a joint response which I just found again:

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

Just seen on the BBC:

"One is a senior clinician at Gids who says they are "devoted" to an affirmative approach to young people presenting with gender difficulties, and that "social justice" underpins all their work.

Another person appointed, who is not employed by Gids or the trust that runs it, has openly questioned Dr Hilary Cass and NHS England's more cautious stance on social transition - the changing of a young person's name, pronouns, and way they dress. Dr Cass and NHS England argued that it is not a neutral act, and that it can have a psychological impact on children.

Meanwhile, some applicants invited for interview for roles at the new services were initially informed that Polly Carmichael, who has been in charge of Gids since 2009, would be on the interviewing panel - a decision the BBC understands was later reversed.
Dr Carmichael communicated to Gids staff not to seek external safeguarding advice, an employment tribunal concluded in 20211_. During her tenure, the leadership of Gids was also rated as inadequate by healthcare regulator the Care Quality Commission."

Health Secretaries old and new:

"Mr Javid, who was health secretary when the decision to close Gids was made following last year's report by Dr Cass, told Newsnight that staff who had been involved in failings at the clinic should not be involved in training people appointed to its replacement.
In a statement he said: "Individuals who oversaw significant failings at the Tavistock should clearly not be managing the set-up of the new system."

He said the approach at Gids was "overly affirmative" and "bordered on the ideological"."

"Current Health Secretary Steve Barclay told the BBC the government would ensure the new service was run in line with the recommendations of the independent Cass review, which "differ significantly" from the services provided by Gids.

He said: "Any suggestion that the recruitment or training of new service providers are not following these recommendations is very concerning and I will work closely with partners to resolve this.""

More here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65245498

This is what we feared would happen. When is this nonsense going to end.

When people start winning negliance cases and people start being prosecuted.

Barnes needs to be made a dame for her work on this.

The captured UK police unlike the Irish police who refused to partake in this nonsense, are part of the problem.

The fundamental myth that needs to be addressed is that there is a need for GIDS at all.

The original clinic was set up to provide psychotherapy to a very small number of children with childhood onset of symptoms. But even this very small number of children didn’t need a specialist service because it created the idea of exceptionalism; that these very rare types of children needed their own very special place to talk about such a very special type of problem that only very special types of therapists could deal with. The reality is that any good therapist could have supported these exceptionally rare types of children with a bit of common sense.

But then you add in the fact most children presenting or on a waiting list aren’t these very rare special types of children. Then add in the cascade of intervention that occurred. Then the acknowledgment that the service only exists and is only so overloaded because children believe they will get puberty blockers. Why have a service at all? The only reason is if the intention is to medically transition children.

Every single child who is being seen by GIDS or on a waiting list for GIDS should be told they are being sent back to their local CAMHS for mental health support. Good psychotherapists from GIDS who aren’t affirmative-driven can be redistributed across these services. Anyone who is determined to drive affirmation needs to find themselves a job doing something else.

On now

Was that a trans flag waving outside the new centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Not so neutral then.

That was a short but comprehensive update, from the interview with the parents of a stereotypical ROGD girl with numerous mental health challenges to the depressing news about the appointments of some of the problem GIDs senior staff to new posts setting up the service. Plus of course Gendered Intelligence weighting in again with their ideological views on children.

Yes Ramblingnamechanger- because nothing's more important in a world leading hospital for critically ill children than flying that flag outside - a worrying indication of the priorities of hopefully a minority of their staff (I've a lot of time for GOSH and it's depressing to see something so unsuitable)

I was horrified to see that bloody 'progress flag' fluttering in the breeze outside GOSH. I support the hospital in a very small way and I will no longer do so. I know I'll get a lot of 'oh, but the poor children will suffer!'. Well, they should have thought of that before they went political.

Fucking outrageous.

At the risk of repeating myself becauseI often post about it, the whole GIDS debacle has just been history repeating.

50+ years ago Dr John Money (of the Reimer twins case) set himself up as The Expert in the field of so-called gender identity. His theory that "gender identity" can be changed in children of you get them young enough, and they will be able to live happily believing that they are the opposite sex was utter guff. But because no one else was qualified in the field, because he made it up everyone deferred to him and accepted his "evidence" that his methods were successful.

This is what I heard in Hannah Barnes' book: clinicians joining GIDS who were worried about the affirmation only model, but believed it must be based on sound evidence because why the fuck would the experienced clinicians be following that model otherwise?

Here's the book about the Reimer case for anyone who isn't familiar. It's tragic, but a really important story.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=As%20Nature%20Made%20Him%3A%20The%20Boy%20Who%20Was%20Raised%20as%20a%20Girl&sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF--topnav--Results

What progress has there been with the 1000 families who are suing the Tavistock announced last summer? This must be reaching court soon.

The segement on GIDS starts at about 20 minutes into the programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001l0hy/newsnight-nurses-vote-for-strikes-over-bank-holiday