Hannah Barnes AT hannahsbee
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins making a statement on Cass Review on gender identity services for children says: "professionals were not asking the right questions of themselves or of their patients"
Praises Hilary Cass and her team, who have "meticulously unpicked what went wrong, what the evidence actually shows, and how to design a fundamentally different service that better serves the needs of children."
Atkins also thanks "those who raised the alarm and contributed to the review". This includes, "the clinicians who spoke up against their peers to blow the whistle about what was happening at the Tavistock clinic, even though it risked their careers"…
…the journalists, academics and activists who listened to their stories and investigated further, even when they were derided as bigots and transphobes"...
"...the parents who were just trying their best to support their children, but were so badly let down by a service that vilified them for questioning whether the interventions offered were the right ones for their children…"
and "the young people themselves who have shared their experiences, including those who have gone through the pain of de-transitioning, only to find that the so-called ‘reversible’ treatments they were offered are not in fact reversible."
Health Sec say NHS "was overtaken by a culture of secrecy and ideology that was allowed to trump evidence and safety."
Warning for private providers, operating both overseas and in the UK: "Nothing is off the table" when it comes to closing any existing loopholes... and CQC asked to look again at 'age thresholds' for licensing conditions of private clinics
Shadow Health Sec Wes Streeting thanks Cass for 'thoughtful' way she has undertaken her work too
Oh - and a rather surprising name-check for me and other journalists who have followed this story...
"What has emerged in the Cass Review is a scandal... it is scandalous that medical interventions have been made on the basis of shaky evidence...perhaps the worst scandal of all is the toxicity...& that it has required investigative journalism to prompt this review taking place"
This report, Streeting says, must provide a watershed moment for children's health care and 'for the way our society and out politics discuss this issue.'
Even in an election year, this should be the one issue where MPs should "down tools and work togther". Tribute paid to Sajid Javid for commissioning the Cass Review and says politicians should "put children's health and well being above political debate"
Dennis Noel Kavanagh AT Jebadoo2
Streeting "the loophole for private providers of puberty blockers is sparking a black market, can I underline our support for further regulation"
"The ideology he and his colleagues espoused was part of the problem" - stinging response from sitting Secretary of State for health to her shadow as she calls for accountability for Labour's part in promoting gender ideology.
Jackie Doyle Price MP rightly pointing out that whatever politics the sitting and shadow secretary of state have across the dispatch boxes, this happened under a conservative government. She's right and it's a mark of how good she is a parliamentarian to say this as a Tory MP
Disgraceful now to hear SNP spokeswoman (last seen pictured at a protest with a sign saying "decapitate terfs") pointedly not commit the SNP devolved government to supporting Cass. Then the hide to bang on about conversion despite Cass pointing out such legislation is homophobic.
Secretary of State not having this, rightly, says the SNP devolved government and the Labour one in Wales should respond to Cass.
This is a great debate on the Secretary of State for Health's post Cass statement but I guess I'm going to have to wait for JCKC, Neale Hanvey or Rosie Duffield to mention homophobia. This was a homophobic medical scandal. Gay people must not be erased in all this.
Dr Caroline Johnson MP rightly calls for accountability for the adult services who refused to cooperate with Dr Cass. She's right to do so, we need accountability on the NHS defying elected ministers and they must not get away with this.
Secretary of State robustly says she expects compliance with Cass and calls out ideological malpractice. Makes clear ideology has no place in the NHS. Open warfare now on gender ideology. Finally.