A report on trans healthcare published by the UK health service this year is being “weaponised by anti-trans groups”, this year’s gay health forum has heard.
In April, paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass published her final report on gender healthcare in the UK. The review, commissioned by NHS England, is seen as a landmark report on gender identity services for under-18s.
It found that thousands of vulnerable children who questioned their gender identity were let down by the NHS providing unproven treatments and by the “toxicity” of the debate about trans rights.
Dr Cass found the UK’s only NHS gender identity development service used puberty blockers, which prevent puberty from happening, and cross-sex hormones, which masculinise or feminise people’s appearances, despite there being “remarkably weak evidence” of them improving young people’s wellbeing.
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However, trans activists in Ireland, speaking at the Gay Health Forum in Dublin on Friday, said the report was being “weaponised” and preventing improvements moving forward in trans healthcare.
Sibéal Coll, a pharmacist and advocate with Trans Healthcare Action, told the forum that the Cass report “should not be Ireland’s model of care” and there were “red flags” with the report.
These included the “re-pathologisation” of trans people, “previously debunked myths” and an “elevating of the Irish system, ranked the worst in Europe”.
Ms Coll was referring to an EU funded study from 2022 which found Ireland has the worst healthcare for transgender people among the 27 EU member-states.
Jes Black, committee member of Trans Healthcare Action, told the forum the ranking was due to “major issues like a decade long waiting list for trans healthcare”.
“There are letters being sent to GPs basically scaring them away from doing blood tests,” she claimed.
“This has gotten so bad that our own organisation has a secret list of GPs who are willing to provide blood tests,” Ms Black said.
The assessments transgender have were “extremely invasive and inappropriate” with expectations to “talk about masturbation and how you feel having sex,” she said.
“People who are unemployed have been kicked out ... We have multiple reports of people on disability allowance and unable to work being told if you want HRT, you need to get a job”.
Speaking on behalf of the Trans Equality Network Ireland (TENI), Dáire Dempsey said there was a “high rate of people whose healthcare providers discouraged them from exploring their gender”.
They were citing a report on institutional violence against trans and nonbinary people in medical settings, funded by ILGA-Europe.
“Some were ridiculed around their names, pronouns or treatment they were seeking ... This speaks to the need for much more training for our healthcare professions,” Dempsey said.
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