The NHS will review all transgender treatment, as the landmark Cass report says that the evidence for allowing children and young people to change gender is built on “shaky foundations”. The Telegraph has the story.
Dr. Hilary Cass, a paediatrician, on Wednesday publishes her long-awaited review into the support and treatment offered to children who believe they are transgender, and cautions that extreme care should be taken before anyone under the age of 25 transitions.
It also calls for an end to the prescribing of any powerful hormone drugs to under 18s; warns children who change gender may regret it; finds that many have experienced trauma, neglect and abuse; and says there is no “good evidence” on the long-term outcomes of the treatments that have been given to children.
The review warns of pressures on families, with parents feeling forced to allow their children to transition so they are not labelled transphobic amid a “toxic” debate.
Dr. Cass declares that “gender medicine for children and young people is built on shaky foundations”.
She says: “The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”
In response, the NHS is to review all transgender treatment it provides, including to adults, and treatment for any new patients aged 16 and 17 seeking to change gender at adult clinics will immediately be paused.
Rishi Sunak has welcomed the recommendations, highlighting the sharp rise in recent years in children, particularly adolescent girls, questioning their gender.
Backing Dr. Cass’s call for all cases to be treated with “great care and compassion”, he said: “We simply do not know the long-term impacts of medical treatment or social transitioning on them, and we should therefore exercise extreme caution.”
The 388-page report took four years to produce, amid mounting concern that children are being allowed to change gender in schools and by doctors without question.
Dr. Cass, the former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, cautions against hasty decisions while children’s brains are developing, calling for “unhurried, holistic, therapeutic support” for those aged between 17 and 25.
She says doctors are “unable to determine with any certainty which children and young people will go on to have an enduring trans identity”.
Dr. Cass adds that “life-changing” decisions must be properly considered in adulthood, noting that brain maturation continues into the mid-20s.
She cautions these people are still at a “vulnerable stage in their journey” and that each of the regional centres recommended in her interim report, which will provide mental health and other support to children who want to change gender, should care for people aged up to 25.
The consultant paediatrician says it is not possible to “know the ‘sweet spot’ when someone becomes settled in their sense of self” but that decisions should not be rushed before an individual becomes a mature adult.
The younger children were, the more likely they were to change their mind, the report finds.
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