NHS treatment of kids questioning their gender is ‘scandalous’ & docs rely on ‘very weak evidence’, Wes Streeting blasts
WES Streeting has slammed the "scandalous" way children questioning their gender have been treated by the NHS.
The Shadow Health Secretary has backed a landmark new report which found teens suffered irreversible changes based on weak evidence.
Appearing on The Sun's new brilliant politics show Never Mind the Ballots, he also put on notice NHS trusts who said they won't cooperate with the recommendations.
Never Mind the Ballots will air tonight at 7pm on The Sun's YouTube channel and thesun.co.uk.
Dr Hilary Cass’s four-year review published today found children have been let down by a lack of research and evidence on the use of puberty blockers and hormones.
Mr Streeting told our Political Editor Harry Cole he backs the "thorough" and "thoughtful" report.
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He added: "I think she (Hilary Cass) has done a really important piece of work.
“But I think it does raise some serious concerns that are pretty scandalous actually.
“I think we have got to ask ourselves: why is it that we have seen medical interventions that have been given on the basis of very weak evidence?
"How is it that clinicians have been silenced or afraid to come forward?
“Why is it that a group of young people who are extremely vulnerable are waiting years to access treatment?"
The Labour firebrand also said he was "pretty angry" that despite the review being commissioned, NHS trusts are refusing to cooperate.
Mr Streeting went on: "I want to send a clear message to them that under a Labour government, there will be accountability and that you're not going to get away with it."
Asked to confirm that if Sir Keir Starmer gets into Number 10 the evidence-free approach won't be coming back, the Shadow Health Secretary said: "We're going to take an evidence-led approach to this.
"Two things are true simultaneously. There are trans adults in this country who've undergone life-changing gender reassignment surgery who say that for all the pain and difficulty that involved, it wasn't just life affirming, it was life changing.
What is the Cass Review?
THE Cass Review has taken four years to find that children questioning their gender should be steered away from medical treatment.
Dr Hilary Cass' landmark report warns “the rationale was unclear” for prescribing controversial puberty blockers to youngsters.
Doctors should exercise extreme caution when giving children hormones of the opposite sex to help with their desire to transition, the leading paediatrician said.
Dr Cass was commissioned by ministers in 2020 to look into how the NHS should deal with the rapid rise in gender-questioning children.
She has warned the debate around trans issues has become toxic, leaving many healthcare professionals afraid to speak their minds.
One of Dr Cass’s key recommendations is for clinicians to screen children for conditions such as autism and assess their mental health to see whether medical treatment is really the best option.
She said: “For most young people, a medical pathway will not be best to manage their gender-related distress.”
For those who are put on a course of treatment, medics must still address common mental health causes, including family breakdown and bullying.
The review found weak evidence that puberty blockers helped deal with gender dysphoria and said: “The rationale for early puberty suppression remains unclear.”
Last year, the NHS banned children from taking puberty blockers following a warning from Dr Cass.
She also said the use of gender hormones by anyone under 18 “presents many unknowns”.
Dr Cass added that a “more cautious approach” must also be taken for prepubescent children.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday backed the findings.
Speaking on behalf of the Labour party, he said: "Today's report must provide a watershed moment for the NHS's gender identity services.
"Children's healthcare should always be led by evidence and children's welfare, free from culture wars.
"The Government must now immediately act, but if they do not, the next Labour government will work to implement the expert recommendations of the Cass review, to ensure that young people are receiving appropriate high-quality care."
"And there are also adults in this country have undergone gender reassignment who say it was a disaster, it has ruined their lives, it is irreversible now in terms of the consequences and they ask how did anyone let this happen?"
Dr Cass’s review found “the rationale was unclear” for prescribing controversial puberty blockers.
The leading paediatrician also said doctors should exercise extreme caution when giving children hormones of the opposite sex to help with their desire to transition.
Dr Cass was commissioned by ministers in 2020 to look into how the NHS should deal with the rapid rise in gender-questioning children.
Welcoming the review, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told LBC the conclusions “shine a spotlight” on the need to “exercise extreme caution” when it comes to gender care for children.
He said: “We care above all about the wellbeing of children and it’s clear that these things are not neutral acts, whether that’s social transitioning, any kind of medical intervention, we simply do not know the long-term effects of these things.
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“And that’s why anyone involved in considering these issues, of course, has to treat people with sensitivity and compassion, but also have to be extremely cautious when it comes to taking any action.”
He said the report is “very supportive, I think, of the direction of travel we’ve taken, particularly in our schools where we’ve issued guidance recently so that teachers know how to deal with these things”.
