I think Sajid Javid the former health secretary who commissioned the Cass Review should be thanked and acknowledged in bringing this scandal to a halt. It’s a shame he is leaving parliament at the next election as he does show good judgement and integrity. This is what he said the the BBC regarding the GIDs clinic
‘’When I was briefed on the NHS’s Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) for the first time, I knew this was not just another policy area but a child protection issue and huge medical scandal in the making.
As Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at the time, I instructed officials to provide all available support to Dr Hilary Cass, the chair of the Independent Review into Gids. I introduced legislation to support her investigation, and months later, backed the recommendations of the interim report.
She has demonstrated exceptional courage throughout and today, her final report is published. Whilst the findings are not surprising, they are no less sickening. Quite simply, ideology replaced the best interests of children, thousands of whom have now been failed in this modern-day scandal.
At every opportunity, and in each department I served in, I tried to advance the cause of child protection. In this case, the source of lessons lies within both the clinical practice, and political culture which enabled it to persist for so long. Unless each is resolved, more children will be harmed.
In any other setting it is hard to imagine a patient meeting a doctor and the patient telling them what their diagnosis is. Yet the approach of self-diagnoses was the medical pathway adopted at Gids. This resulted in clinicians not showing enough interest in other potential factors, including trauma, social influence, sexual abuse or different conditions. Take the example of autism, which we know about 2 per cent of children in the UK are thought to have. At Gids, a review found that about 35 per cent had moderate or severe autistic traits.
Compounding this was the widespread prescription of puberty blockers. Thankfully, that practice in the NHS is changing, but huge loopholes remain in the system. Both private clinics and prescriptions ordered from abroad remain significant problems. In the case of prescriptions, someone could simply order them online to any pharmacy in the country.’’