The NHS is treating toddlers and nursery-age children who believe they are transgender after watering down its own guidance and removing the under-seven age limit. The Telegraph has the story.
The health service was previously set to introduce a minimum age of seven for children to be seen by its specialist gender clinics, claiming anything less was “just too young”.
The limit was removed after the proposals were put out to consultation, with new guidance due to be published showing that children of any age are eligible.
However, a source close to the consultation process said NHS England had “caved to the pressure” of trans activists to remove the limits.
The children are not given powerful drugs such as puberty blockers at the clinics, but are offered counselling and therapy along with their family.
Up to 10 children of nursery age are being treated, according to new data, while as many as 157 children aged nine or younger have been referred to the clinics.
The NHS previously said that children under seven years old were “just too young” to be considered to have gender dysphoria, citing an example of a young child taking a liking to toys or clothes typical of the opposite sex as normal.
“We know that showing an interest in clothes or toys of the opposite sex – or displaying behaviours more commonly associated with the opposite sex – is reasonably common behaviour in childhood and is usually not indicative of gender incongruence,” it said.
That draft guidance, published in 2023, added that by seven years old, “children may have more developed their cognitive, comprehension and communication skills to an extent that they will be able to engage with health professionals”.
The guidance was drawn up after the Cass review into children’s transgender services, led by the paediatrician Baroness Cass, found the NHS had been sending children on a one-way path to change gender at the Tavistock clinic.
Doctors routinely prescribed puberty blockers despite a lack of evidence to support their safety and effectiveness, and instead of assessing for other conditions.
The clinic was closed as a result and the NHS began opening more ‘holistic’ regional gender clinics as part of plans to move away from a ‘medical model’.
Last month, the Telegraph revealed that these plans included testing all children for neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and checking their mental health.
The number of nursery-aged children referred to the new services is said to be “fewer than 10”, according to data released by the NHS under freedom of information laws.
The exact number of under-fives was withheld in order to prevent them from being identified, but with 157 children under 10 waiting to be seen, it raises the prospect that dozens of under-sevens have been referred to the clinics as a result of the about-turn.
The NHS said it was following the Cass review’s recommendation not to set an age limit and that any care for children aged under seven would be focused on family support and advice.
The Cass review recommended that children who wanted to socially transition be seen as early as possible by medical professionals in order to identify and address any mental health concerns or neurodevelopmental conditions.
The Government has also thrown its support behind the move, insisting it is following the recommendations of the review.
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