Children to no longer be prescribed puberty blockers, NHS England confirms
Children to no longer be prescribed puberty blockers, NHS England confirms
The decision follows a review after a sharp rise in referrals were recorded at the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which is closing at the end of March.
Bad news, folks. The Tories have proven yet again that they're complete and utter wankers.
It's wild because puberty blockers have already been proven safe, both for trans and for cis kids who might need them.
It's a purely political decision not based in any kind of medical science.
How can you say they are proven safe when, to start with, there is a lack of evidence on long term safety? Happy to be shown otherwise if the article posted is incorrect.
To quote Julia Serrano's excellent writeup on GAC for adolescents:
The “experimental” label is most regularly levied against puberty blockers, probably because the average person isn’t familiar with them. However, they’ve been used to treat precocious puberty since the 1980s (Comite et al., 1981; Mancuso et al., 1989) and to stave off unwanted endogenous puberties in trans youth since the mid-to-late-1990s (Cohen-Kettenis & van Goozen, 1998; van der Loos et al., 2023). For anyone interested in learning more about them, I’d recommend Giordano & Holm’s 2020 accessibly written scientific review “Is puberty delaying treatment ‘experimental treatment’?” as it answers the most commonly asked questions about the method, its efficacy, potential side effects, and so on.
Giordano & Holm’s review also addresses another common claim levied against gender-affirming care, namely, that there aren’t any “high quality studies.” In actuality, there are many high-quality studies: sound methodologies, significant sample sizes, published in well-respected journals, etcetera. When trans-skeptical people argue this, what they really mean is that there aren’t any randomized controlled studies — where neither the doctor nor patient know whether they’ve received the medicine in question or whether they’ve received a placebo. While this certainly is the “gold standard” for medical trials, it is not logistically possible in cases such as this, as both doctors and patients would quickly surmise which group they were assigned to based upon the changes (or lack thereof) in their bodies. The review also delves into ethical issues regarding withholding this treatment that make controlled studies impossible.
The second paragraph delves into the claim that there are no quality studies on the effects of delayed puberty. We actually have a good number of high quality studies, what we don't have are double blind, randomized controlled studies because of the practical and ethical difficulties of doing so. This, of course, gets twisted into labeling puberty blockers as having no evidence or for being "experimental".
The government said it welcomed the "landmark decision", adding it would help ensure care is based on evidence and is in the "best interests of the child".
It's truly insulting that they even dare suggest that this is in the best interests of trans kids, or that it's based on any evidence. Puberty blockers save lives.
It follows a public consultation on the issue
Since when is public opinion relevant for the availability of healthcare? Can we have expert opinions, please?
The review followed a sharp rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS)
"More people need this treatment than ever before! Better completely cut off access to it!" is such a malicious position to take. I actually don't understand how these transphobic fucks can be so callous and insensitive.
TERF island still living up to its name.
The whole Anti-LGBT campaign blowing over from the US to Europe. In the Netherlands I see more and more of the same 😭
Why are people so quick to hate what they don't understand? It's infuriating and exhausting. I really hope they will move on from this after the US election, but I worry that it will only continue to get worse.
It's because the extreme-right campaigns are fuelled by hate and discontent. And it helps them by chanelling it towards minority groups by blaming them for everything (obviously a majority won't work because they would alienate too much of their own userbase). So the narrative is 'the brown people' cause all the problems, the LGBT community etc etc. Hate unites people more easily than love 😢
What worries me the most is that formerly normal sane 'friends' actually buy into this BS and have become rabiate trans-haters practically overnight. 😢
That's torture and irreparable harm.
Yeah. I heard about this on the radio, and my first thought was, "Oh shit, those suicide rates are going to skyrocket."
My second thought was "Should I throw a bucket of gravy over whoever's responsible, or should I come at them with a cricket bat?"
“Oh shit, those suicide rates are going to skyrocket.”
Oh nah, people are absolutely going to die as a direct result of this decision. More many will have scars.
It's still murder—still assault—if the weapon you form against a person is their own beleaguered hand.
I weep for needless death.
Kids are going to die because of this.
Conservatives don't care. For everyone's sake they need to go. It's so saddening to see the UK government copying the ideas of right-wing extremists in the USA.
That's the point.
thank god nhs scotland is separate from nhs england but the sad thing is the waitlist was already absurd long and the tory and labour's pursuit of pseudoscience will just harm trans people even more.
never mind the fact that something used for THREE DECADES for cis children is hardly experimental... and still used today for trans and cis children in other countries.
The government said it welcomed the "landmark decision", adding it would help ensure care is based on evidence and is in the "best interests of the child".
Because nothing says evidence based care based on the best interests of the patient than blanket-banning treatment based on zero evidence whatsoever.
especially treatments which work fine for years and many other countries
They think that just because they never heard of puberty blockers before last year that they are some new and novel thing.
Fuck this shitty terf island
Why not also forbid antibiotics and cough medicine /s
Because that wouldn't hurt vulnerable minorities in particular. It's the old fascist technique of feeding people scapegoats on whom they can blame their troubles and take out their anger and frustration, so that they never ask whether the government might be responsible for their problems. It works best if you victimize a minority group that most people are unfamiliar with, and make it dangerous for people of that group to show their faces in public. Then the masses will never learn that they are not to be feared and hated.
Unfortunately the British people are staggeringly easy to convince that the government of the last 14 years has nothing to do with their declining quality of life over the last 14 years. It makes this scapegoating propaganda all too easy.
fucked up
I believe this was deliberate and not just a fuck up.
"The cruelty is the point".
Fair point. I'll change it.
This is going to fuck over kids that go through precocious puberty and cancer patients.
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
It follows a public consultation on the issue and an interim policy, and comes after NHS England commissioned an independent review of gender identity services for children under 18 in 2020.
Dr Hilary Cass, who led the review, published an interim report in February 2022 saying there was a need to move away from one unit and recommended regional options be available to better support children.
The NHS said children attending these clinics will be supported by experts in neurodiversity, paediatrics and mental health, "resulting in a holistic approach to care".
John Stewart, national director of specialised commissioning at NHS England, said the responses were "polarised" in line with the debate around puberty blockers.
Mr Stewart said: "Many people said the policy didn't go far enough in terms of still allowing potential access (to puberty blockers) through research, and others saying clearly they disagreed fundamentally and that these should be routinely available to everyone who believes they need it."
Former prime minister Liz Truss "welcomed" NHS England's decision ahead of her Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill which is up for its second reading on Friday.
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good bot
Sorry for the off-topic comment, but what's the syntax for making a collapsible quote like that? Anyone know?
Like this!
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
::: spoiler Click here to see the summary
It follows a public consultation on the issue and an interim policy, and comes after NHS England commissioned an independent review of gender identity services for children under 18 in 2020.
… more body text …
Former prime minister Liz Truss "welcomed" NHS England's decision ahead of her Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill which is up for its second reading on Friday.
Saved 71% of original text. :::
We did it Patrick, we saved the city! 🙃
