On Thursday, the National Health Service announced it was closing England’s only youth gender clinic, the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service, located in London. It is to be replaced by a more distributed and comprehensive network of medical care for adolescents seeking gender treatments.
The announcement followed a review of the clinic, which has helped thousands of transgender patients since the 1990s. The ongoing review has raised several concerns including issues with long wait times and insufficient mental health support.
The closure of the clinic is part of a shift in medical practice across some European countries. Some doctors there are concerned about the lack of data on long-term safety and outcomes of medical transitions.
“How do we draw the line so that we keep care individualized while maintaining safety standards for everyone? That’s what we’re trying to sort out,” said Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynecologic and reconstructive surgeon and the incoming president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. “It’s the people on the ground who need to make these decisions, not people in Washington or state legislatures.”
The NHS said current patients there could continue to receive care there before transferring to two new centers at children’s hospitals in London and Manchester. The new clinics will expand the country’s gender services.
Tavistock received more than 5,000 patient referrals in 2021, up from just 250 in 2011. The types of patients seeking treatment have also changed over the past decade. When the clinic opened, it primarily served children who were assigned male at birth. Last year, two-thirds of its patients were assigned female at birth.
Transgender advocates in Britain welcomed the changes but also mentioned that many questions remained about how they would affect care for young people.
“We are optimistic, cautiously optimistic, about the news,” said Susie Green, chief executive of Mermaids, an advocacy group for transgender and gender-diverse youth. “There is a two-and-a-half-year waiting list to be seen for your first appointment. We’ve seen the distress caused to young people because of that. We would not want any further barriers to be put in place in terms of access to medical intervention.”
Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/health/transgender-youth-uk-tavistock.html
The announcement followed a review of the clinic, which has helped thousands of transgender patients since the 1990s. The ongoing review has raised several concerns including issues with long wait times and insufficient mental health support.
The closure of the clinic is part of a shift in medical practice across some European countries. Some doctors there are concerned about the lack of data on long-term safety and outcomes of medical transitions.
“How do we draw the line so that we keep care individualized while maintaining safety standards for everyone? That’s what we’re trying to sort out,” said Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynecologic and reconstructive surgeon and the incoming president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. “It’s the people on the ground who need to make these decisions, not people in Washington or state legislatures.”
The NHS said current patients there could continue to receive care there before transferring to two new centers at children’s hospitals in London and Manchester. The new clinics will expand the country’s gender services.
Tavistock received more than 5,000 patient referrals in 2021, up from just 250 in 2011. The types of patients seeking treatment have also changed over the past decade. When the clinic opened, it primarily served children who were assigned male at birth. Last year, two-thirds of its patients were assigned female at birth.
Transgender advocates in Britain welcomed the changes but also mentioned that many questions remained about how they would affect care for young people.
“We are optimistic, cautiously optimistic, about the news,” said Susie Green, chief executive of Mermaids, an advocacy group for transgender and gender-diverse youth. “There is a two-and-a-half-year waiting list to be seen for your first appointment. We’ve seen the distress caused to young people because of that. We would not want any further barriers to be put in place in terms of access to medical intervention.”
Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/health/transgender-youth-uk-tavistock.html
