Dr Hilary Cass has today (Wednesday, April 10) published her review into the care of gender-questioning children in England and Wales, which has called for gender services to operate ‘to the same standards’ as other health services for children and young people, with ‘a holistic assessment’ of people referred.
According to Dr Cass the entirety of gender medicine – including the use of puberty blockers – is ‘built on shaky foundations’.
The Cass report urged the NHS to change some other standards of its gender care, including a review of its policy on giving children masculinising or feminising hormones from the age of 16, with the report urging ‘extreme caution’.
Dr Cass said there ‘should be a clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18’.
The use of such hormones, the review said, should be part of a research programme alongside a previously reported puberty blocker trial which is expected to be in place by December.
“Everyone deserves access to timely, supportive and holistic healthcare. However, across all of the UK, the NHS is failing trans youth.”
Dr Cass’s report also warned a ‘more cautious approach’ must be taken for children than for adolescents when it comes to social transitioning. When families are making decisions about social transitioning, it is important ‘parents are not unconsciously influencing the child’s gender expression’, the review said.
