There are few details over how new NHS children’s gender services will work when they open next month. The NHS says there will be a seamless move to the new survices for young people currently under the care of the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), based at London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. It’s due to close on 31 March – ending its 35 years history. But it has been unclear how ready the new services will be. Recruitment to new roles has been challenging, and responsibility for the training of those staff was handed over to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges at the eleventh hour.
While we have known that the aim is for these new services to follow a very different, more holistic model of care, prioritising therapeutic interventions to young people seeking help, it has not been entirely clear whether there will be any access to medical interventions – namely drugs that block a young person’s puberty – when the services open.
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