The NHS is shutting down its gender id clinic for kids and younger individuals on the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust to construct a “more resilient service” by increasing provision.
The NHS mentioned on Thursday the contract for the gender id service on the Trust will likely be delivered to an in depth, and it’ll as a substitute create two providers led by specialist youngsters’s hospitals in London and the North West by spring 2023.
It follows suggestions from Dr Hilary Cass, who’s main an impartial assessment into Gender Identity Services for kids and younger individuals.
She mentioned there was a necessity to maneuver away from a mannequin of a sole supplier, and as a substitute set up regional providers to raised meet sufferers’ wants.
The Trust, which runs clinics in London, Leeds and Bristol, is believed to offer hormone therapy to round 200 of the two,500 youngsters it sees annually.
Referrals have elevated 50-fold within the final decade, with much more feminine youngsters coming ahead – a reversal of what occurred beforehand.
In March, an interim report of the Cass Review, commissioned by NHS England, was launched.
In it, Dr Cass wrote: “It has become increasingly clear that a single specialist provider model is not a safe or viable long-term option, in view of concerns about lack of peer review and the ability to respond to the increasing demand.”
A spokeswoman for the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) on the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust mentioned: “The Trust supports the need to establish a more sustainable model for the care of this group of patients given the marked growth in referrals.
“The experience that resides inside the present GIDS service will likely be essential to the profitable formation of those early adopter providers and offering continuity in affected person care.
“We will work closely with partners and commissioners to ensure a smooth transition to the new model of delivery.
“Over the final couple of years, our workers in GIDS have labored tirelessly and below intense scrutiny in a tough local weather.
“We are proud of them and thankful for their unrelenting patient focus and extraordinary efforts.”
Source: information.sky.com”