As reported by BBC News, leaked emails reveal senior executives’ worries about the shutdown of the NHS gender clinic for youth, citing risks to patients and lack of communication
Hospital executives voiced worry about the cancellation of appointments, patients lacking information and poor communication with the new services.
In one email, the service’s director, Dr Polly Carmichael, said cancellations could potentially put patients at risk.
NHS England insisted patients would have “continuity of care”.
The controversial Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), which is run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, is due to close later this week.
Its closure was announced in July 2022, after an independent review said a “fundamentally different” model of care for young people with gender-related distress was needed.
The service – the sole NHS gender identity service for children in England and Wales – was rated as “inadequate” by inspectors in 2020.
It will initially be replaced by two new regional hubs; a London-based southern hub and a north of England hub. Additional hubs are expected to open in the coming years.
Not enough details
However, BBC News has spoken to staff at the existing service who say, just days before the 31 March closure, they have been unable to answer basic questions from patients about the future of their care.
They say they still do not have enough details about how the new services will operate or when some provisions will be fully operational in the new clinics.
The BBC has also seen emails in which staff at the new services complain about a lack of information. Several sources said they had been asking for months for NHS England to help set up channels of communication between the teams to assist with a smooth handover.
NHS England says it has organised a meeting between the new and old teams.
The BBC understands that meeting only took place weeks before the closure of Gids.
BBC News has also been given a dossier of internal emails – sent between February last year and this month.
In one email, sent earlier this month, current director of Gids Dr Polly Carmichael informed staff about the “unexpected” cancellation of children’s appointments at endocrinology clinics.
In the email, dated 8 March, she said the cancellations could create a “risk” to some patients and that the process had been “poorly managed, as we did not know in advance”.
“I know this is upsetting but [I] hope we can contain and support any families who make contact,” she wrote.
NHS England told the BBC a decision on whether these appointments would be rescheduled was yet to be taken.
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