UK gender identity clinic that treated Irish children rated ‘inadequate’

22nd January 2021

“Significant concerns” have been raised by inspectors of the UK’s leading gender identity service, to which more than 180 Irish children have been referred since 2015 by the HSE using public funding.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the Gender Identity Development Service “inadequate” following an announced inspection in late 2020.

Investigators highlighted long waiting lists and insufficient record-keeping, prompting the CQC to take immediate enforcement action against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust which runs the service.

In the two-year period to April 2020, 85 Irish children and teenagers were referred to the service, according to its website. The psychological services at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin are provided by the Tavistock clinic and funded by the Treatment Abroad Scheme.

Meanwhile, psychotherapist and author, Stella O’Malley has said the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) have made a mistake on the document they released this week on trans health care as they state that puberty blockers are reversible. She said “the NHS and even the disgraced Tavistock no longer claim this. There will be lawsuits”.

She added that the inaccurate guidance for GPs “will cause real difficulties for young people with gender dysphoria #FirstDoNoHarm”.