Aine Fox
Independent
Originally posted 1August 24
The doctors’ union is to “critique” the Cass Review into children’s gender services and make recommendations to improve a healthcare system which it said has “failed transgender patients”.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said its evaluation of the review will “pay particular attention” to the methodology used to underpin the report’s recommendations.
Published in April and first commissioned in 2020, the report concluded that gender care is currently an area of “remarkably weak evidence” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse”.
Research by the University of York, carried out alongside the report, found evidence to be severely lacking on the impact of puberty blockers and hormone treatments, while the majority of clinical guidelines were found not to have followed international standards.
The review made 32 recommendations on how to ensure young people get a high standard of care which meets their needs in a way that is “safe, holistic and effective”.
Here is a summary:
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced plans to "critique" the Cass Review, a report on children's gender services, and make recommendations to improve healthcare for transgender patients. The BMA has expressed concerns about the report's methodology and is calling for the implementation of its recommendations to be paused while the union carries out its evaluation, which is expected to take the rest of the year to complete. However, the NHS has rejected this suggestion, stating that it has "full confidence" in the report and will soon publish a plan to bring in its recommendations.
The BMA's evaluation will focus on several key areas, including the methodology used to underpin the report's recommendations, the impact of puberty blockers and hormone treatments (which was found to have severely lacking evidence), and clinical guidelines (most of which were found not to follow international standards). The union is also advocating for transgender patients to continue receiving specialist healthcare regardless of age and is calling for more research to form a solid evidence base for children's care. The BMA's critique will be shared with its UK council in January 2025.
The decision to evaluate the Cass Review comes after the report concluded that gender care is currently an area of "remarkably weak evidence" and that young people have been caught up in a "stormy social discourse". The report made 32 recommendations on how to ensure young people get a high standard of care that meets their needs in a way that is "safe, holistic and effective". The BMA's chairman of council, Professor Philip Banfield, emphasized the importance of getting this work right, stating that it is a highly specialized area of healthcare for children and young adults with complex needs.
