06/05/2024
The Guardian newspaper says that a senior psychologist has hit out at the NHS services for young trans people, which have been hamstrung by excessive caution after the publication of the CASS report, which in turn recommended the closure of existing NHS gender clinics and the setting up of regional "hubs" for services. These have yet to be set up in many cases, leaving transgender young people in a limbo. Dr Aiden Kelly, a clinical psychologist specialising in gender who was part of the team at the Tavistock and Portman NHS mental health trust’s gender identity development services (Gids), said he was “very, very worried” about the NHS’s ability to deliver a suitable gender service based on the findings of the Cass review. The Cass review is named after Hilary Cass, a leading paediatrician. Doctor Kelly also exploded myths that were being pedalled by the right wing newspapers like the Mail and the Daily Telegraph, both of whom have been using anxiety over trans people as a moral panic to distract readers attention from other social and economic truths. He said that only 16% of those referred to Gids started hormone treatment, said Kelly, whose clinic does not prescribe puberty blockers, “so it doesn’t fit with the narrative that people were rushed on to treatments, that everyone just got it handed out like candy, how you hear some people talk about it. It was the exact opposite to that.” LGBTQIA+ newswire Pink News added that Labour MP Nadia Whittome issued a statement summarising the Cass Report and adding "“In the coming days, I’ll be speaking to experts, relevant organisations, and trans people themselves to better understand the report and its implications..... “The Tory government is hell-bent on using trans people as pawns within a culture war, so we have to get them out. “I will be doing everything I can to ensure that our manifesto in the next General Election is one that would make a real difference to LGBTQ+ people in the UK.” Miss Whittome was praised by LGBTQIA+ advocates for her level headed approach to an issue that has been scarred by hysterical reportage from uninformed individuals.
