Gender swap for children NHS waiting list now at 5,500

The Mail on Sunday may reveal that the number of children queuing for gender reassignment treatment on the NHS has increased by more than one-fifth since the Covid quarantines.

Nearly 5,500 children are on the waiting list for treatment at the controversial Tavistock and Tavistock and Portman Trust’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in London, according to a new report from this journal.

Leading NHS Trust figures have expressed concern that “the list has grown significantly during the lockdown” and acknowledged that this is a major “concern” for the Trustees.

Last night, Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of the Transgender Trend campaign group, said about the potential impact of the blockages: “Life has really stopped, so young people at this stage of their lives where they are really searching for their identity are getting online.

“They are bombarded with messages saying they are trans and all their problems, insecurities and fears stem from being trans.”

The new figure of 5,500 is a big increase from the waiting list estimate made last year.

In January 2021, after a GIDS review, the Health Quality Commission reported that the list was at 4,600.

Paul Burstow, the former Liberal Democrat health minister who heads the Tavistock Trust, said this issue of the growing GIDS waiting list is a “concern” for the Board of Trustees.

The CQC came as it uncovered numerous flaws in the clinic after a number of whistleblowers voiced concerns that GIDS is not adequately supporting vulnerable children, forcing them to seek life-changing gender reassignment treatments.

These concerns were reflected in a recent review for NHS England by Hilary Cass, former chair of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.

Dr. Cass wrote that doctors feel pressured to unconditionally approach children who want to change their gender.

The mid-term review also said that the lack of formal clinical guidance and stifling debate have left many physicians “tense” about providing the “strongest support” they wanted to provide.

The Quality of Care Commission found multiple shortcomings in the clinic after a number of whistleblowers voiced concerns that GIDS does not adequately support vulnerable children and encourages them to expose them to life-changing sex reassignment treatments.

The NHS-backed report says the condition means young people are taking controversial puberty blockers or sex-changing hormones they want, but may benefit more from waiting or other treatments.

The final Cass report, expected later this year, is expected to mark the end of GIDS as the NHS’s sole treatment center for gender issues in England.

Instead, regional NHS agencies will be told to set up their own clinics and services. GIDS has seen a dramatic increase in annual workload over the past decade.

In 2010/11, only 138 children were referred for treatment. In 2020/21, it was 2,383, an increase of 17 times.

Most of the children treated in the early 2010s were men, but now women are the majority of the workload.

The reasons for this change are unknown, but some experts say it’s part of a broader mental health crisis among British girls, who are more likely to experience anxiety, depression and self-harm than boys.

Last night, the vocal advocate for trans issues, Baroness Nicholson, called for a “slow” and “calm” assessment of children struggling with their gender.