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I hope this poor rating for GIDS from the CQC will be a wake-up call for NHS England. Not just about waiting lists - trans youth and parents are subject to poorly-educated clinicians, pathologisation, gender stereotypes. Time to break up the monopoly. https://inews.co.uk/news/health/nhs-gids-clinic-transgender-under-18s-unacceptable-rating-cqc-835612?fbclid=IwAR2e-idMPyuW9ptmuy00V9TF6Jl0wjk_js1lvx2Wt53fD6lbGWTTWrFzDag
Bell v Tavistock didn't come out of the blue - it was in part a result of institutional failings at GIDS. Leadership at the service saw no need to understand trans lives and politics - and by extension, the anti-trans movement - until it finally came for them. Which was too late.
GIDS needs to be replaced with local, accessible services that are prepared to support a range of outcomes for trans *and* for gender-nonconforming youth without keeping them hanging on for years. Services that will see them, believe them, work with them, fight for them.
Anti-trans campaigners often accuse trans people of reinforcing gender stereotypes. As we have been saying for decades, these stereotypes are all too often imposed on us (and at GIDS, on our parents!) by clinicians. An example from the horse's mouth: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0075417X.2018.1443150
I know good people (some trans) working at GIDS who care about the young people and families they see. My complaints are not about them, but the utterly rotten system they are working in - the only option going, the *only* child and adolescent gender service in England and Wales.
Research by academics such as @Anna_Carlile and Ethan Butterniss has highlighted families' experiences of "frustration, delay, and desperation" in attempting to access treatment at GIDS, as well as the powerful potential benefits of gender-affirming care. …https://inclusiveeducation652853906.wordpress.com/its-like-my-kid-came-back-overnight-experiences-of-trans-and-non-binary-young-people-and-their-families-seeking-finding-and-engaging-with-clinical-care-in-england/
Young people attempting to access treatment at GIDS describe being asked upsetting and invasive questions about their sexuality, and being effectively gaslighted by clinicians who ask if they couldn't just be gay instead of trans.
One of the few reported positives of GIDS was that young people might - eventually - access a prescription for puberty blockers or hormones if needed. In the wake of Bell v Tavistock, GIDS, @TaviAndPort and NHS England have been cowardly in defending these treatments.
Many families without access to puberty blockers for young people who wanted/needed them report recieving ad-hoc prescription for less effective, more dangerous medication, such as contraceptives. We are likely to see a lot more of this in the wake of Bell v Tavistock.
Parents such as @FierceMum have been highlighting the damage caused by poor treatment at GIDS for years - as have young trans people. We said this again and again in Trans Youth Network in the 2000s. It's about time the NHS and media actually listened. https://twitter.com/FierceMum/status/1351850014595805185
Related thread: https://twitter.com/VallerieKnight/status/1351906964540895237
