Dr Cass told the NHS it was “hugely disappointing” that the clinics would not engage in research that would help to inform the future treatment of children who believe they are transgender.
The Tavistock, which also runs an adult service, refused to give data on either of its services, the report said.
The other adult clinics are the Leeds Gender Identity Clinic, the Northampton Gender Identity Clinic in Daventry, the Northern Region Gender Dysphoria Service in Newcastle, the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health, the Porterbrook Clinic Gender Identity Service in Sheffield, and the Laurels Gender Identity Clinic in Exeter.
NHS takes responsibility for research
The NHS is committed to undertaking the research and has moved the responsibility for its completion from the Cass review to the NHS National Research Oversight Board for Children and Young People’s Gender.
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said he was “pretty angry” that the trusts had “refused to co-operate”.
“I want to send a clear message to them that under a Labour government there’ll be accountability for that, you’re not going to get away with it. And I want to work constructively with the Government to try to get this right,” he said.
Professor Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University and board member at the charity Sex Matters, said it was “disgraceful that gender clinicians employed by the NHS wilfully obstructed Hilary Cass’s attempt to undertake research as part of her review”.
“It is a dereliction of duty for these NHS clinics to refuse to provide patient information. This information is needed by clinicians, the general public and most importantly, future patients and their families, so they can understand the safety and efficacy of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,” he said.
“Public sector bodies deliberately withholding information is contemptible and those responsible must be held to account.”
Kate Barker, the chief executive of advocacy group LGB Alliance, said: “It is deeply troubling that attempts to gather evidence for the Cass Review have been deliberately blocked. All of its recommendations are at risk whilst institutions remain captured by zealous, anti-science proponents of gender identity ideology.”
Rowling praise for review’s work
On Wednesday, J K Rowling praised the Cass review – and criticised trans rights activists who continued to attack it.
“Over the last four years, Hilary Cass has conducted the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that’s ever been conducted,” the author tweeted.
“Mere hours after it was released to the press and public, committed ideologues are doubling down.
“These are people who’ve deemed opponents ‘far-Right’ for wanting to know there are proper checks and balances in place before autistic, gay and abused kids – groups that are all overrepresented at gender clinics – are left sterilised, inorgasmic, lifelong patients.
“I understand that the review’s conclusions will have come as a seismic shock to those who’ve hounded and demonised whistleblowers and smeared opponents as bigots and transphobes, but trying to discredit Hilary Cass’s work isn’t merely misguided. It’s actively malign.
“Even if you don’t feel ashamed of cheerleading for what now looks like severe medical malpractice, even if you don’t want to accept that you might have been wrong, where’s your sense of self-preservation? The bandwagon you hopped on so gladly is hurtling towards a cliff.”
The ‘laying bare of a tragedy’
She added: “And if I sound angry, it’s because I’m bloody angry. I read Cass this morning and my anger’s been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations.
“The consequences of this scandal will play out for decades. You cheered it on. You did all you could to impede and misrepresent research. You tried to bully people out of their jobs for opposing you. Young people have been experimented on, left infertile and in pain.
“The Cass Review may be a watershed moment, but it comes too late for detransitioners who’ve written me heartbreaking letters of regret. Today’s not a triumph, it’s the laying bare of a tragedy.”
Children’s safety and wellbeing comes before anything else
By Victoria Atkins, Health Secretary
The final report of Dr Cass’s review is a historic moment for our understanding of how to care for children who are struggling with difficult questions about who they are.
I am hugely grateful to Dr Cass’s dedicated team for their detailed and considered work on such a contentious area of healthcare. I commend those brave voices who spoke up to raise the alarm about how treatment was diverging so far from guidance.
A culture of secrecy and ideology over evidence and safety. Today I’m saying “enough”.
We simply do not know the lifelong impact of these medical interventions on young minds and bodies to be clear that they are safe.
We’ve also seen a marked change in the age and sex of those seeking help. I am greatly troubled by the rapid rise in the referral of teenage girls and the stressors that Dr Cass highlights like social media and degrading pornography.
Action is already being taken to protect our children.
NHS England is stopping children under 18 from being seen by adult gender services with immediate effect.
This builds on progress earlier this year to end the routine prescription of puberty blockers at the new regional services. An urgent update on cross-sex hormones clinical policy must now follow.
I have written to the chief executive of NHS England to seek assurance on this and the need for swift delivery across Dr Cass’s recommendations. I want to ensure that we prioritise continuity of care and support up to the age of 25 with a follow-through service for young people at a potentially vulnerable stage in their journey.
It is disgraceful that adult gender clinics have not cooperated with the vital University of York research to link data on children at the Tavistock so that we can understand their journey into adulthood.
This Government took the unprecedented step of changing the law to make this possible. There can be no further delay on their full participation. I know that NHS England will use all the powers at their disposal to compel this if they have to.
I am clear in my expectation that private providers must fall in line too. I have instructed my officials to work on the changes necessary to close down routes that allow puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to be prescribed to children for gender dysphoria from abroad.
We need clinicians from across disciplines in the NHS to come together in the new services to build better, more holistic care teams. Teams that treat the whole child and all of their needs.
Children and young people must have healthcare that is caring and careful. Their safety and wellbeing comes before anything else. I will do everything I can do deliver on these changes.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
