NHS to close Tavistock gender identity clinic for children

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The NHS is shutting down its gender identity clinic for children at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust.

The contract for the gender identity service at the trust would be brought to a close, the NHS said.

It said it intended to build a “more resilient service” by expanding provision, and would establish two services led by specialist children’s hospitals in London and north-west England. The NHS said it aimed for these to be fully up and running by spring 2023.

It follows recommendations from Dr Hilary Cass, who is leading an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people.

She said there was a need to move away from a model of a sole provider, and instead establish regional services to better meet patients’ needs.

Her interim report found the rise in referrals to the gender identity development service (Gids) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust in London had resulted in overwhelmed staff and waiting lists of up to two years.

Cass said this was leaving young people “at considerable risk” of distress and deteriorating mental health. The number of referrals to the service went from 138 in 2010-11 to 2,383 in 2020-21.

Last spring, in a highly critical report on Gids, the Care Quality Commission demanded monthly updates on waiting list numbers and actions to reduce them.