The use of these medicines has now stopped in Scotland and the two clinics that provide them, and in England and Wales.
What is the Cass Review?
Commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement in 2020 following a rise in the number of young people seeking help for issues with their gender, the review was a wide-ranging report on the health care available.
At nearly 400 pages, the review contained 32 recommendations and was scathing about the clinical approach offered so far, saying much of the evidence supporting the treatments was built on shaky foundations.
It called for gender services to operate to the same standards as other child and youth health services, with a holistic assessment of people referred, including screening for neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and a mental health assessment .
The report also calls for a review of the current policy of giving children masculinizing or feminizing hormones in the form of testosterone or estrogen from the age of 16, calling for extreme caution.
Research by the University of York carried out alongside the report found that there was a serious lack of evidence on the impact of puberty blockers and hormone treatments, while most clinical guidelines were found to have failed to follow standards international
NHS England immediately said it agreed with these recommendations.
Dr Cass said it was extremely disappointing to find that the World Association of Transgender Health Professionals (WPATH) guidelines which were adopted as an industry standard and very widely adopted internationally, were they were very, very poorly based on the evidence.
How did this become a dispute in Scotland?
The Cass Review’s recommendations on healthcare in general, and puberty blockers in particular, caused a major split between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, who together formed the Scottish Government..
Then-Prime Minister Humza Yousaf did not immediately indicate that she would adopt the measures proposed in the review, initially saying: All recommendations that Dr Cass makes will be considered as part of this consideration of the full report, including recommendations that does in relation to puberty. blockers, and this is one element of Dr. Cass’s recommendations.
There are a number of recommendations that will be taken into account.
READ MORE:Hilary Cass tests MSPs on gender identity services
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READ MORE: Patrick Harvie Cass Review ‘recalls homophobia of the 80s and 90s’
His comments came a day after an interview by Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Mr Harvie, where he did not say whether he accepted the group’s findings during an interview.
Asked five times if he accepted the report, the then minister refused to say so, claiming it had been politicized and weaponized against trans people.
He later said: “When it comes to the Cass Report, it’s very clearly politicized by those who are trying to abolish trans health care, trans rights and exclude trans people from a whole range of public spaces
Not only the Scottish Greens, but also the Scottish Government are not part of this culture war against trans people.
It’s so reminiscent of the homophobia of the 80s and 90s.”
His comments led Alba MSP Ash Regan to table a vote of no confidence in Mr. Harvie as minister, although the power-sharing deal fell apart before that could happen.
Three days later, both NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) and NHS Lothian accepted the recommendation.
Both said the decision came with the support of Scotland’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Gregor Smith.
The NHSGGC only covers Scotland’s gender clinic for under-18s, while NHS Lothian provides care for people aged 17 and over at its gender identity clinic in Chalmers.
The decision was welcomed by Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray.
Did the puberty blocker decision play a role in Humza Yousaf’s downfall?
After being sacked from the Scottish Government with the end of the Bute House deal, the Scottish Greens said they would support a Scottish Conservative motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf.
Parliamentary arithmetic meant he was unlikely to survive such a vote, and he withdrew before one could be taken.
Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said her party no longer trusted a progressive government in Scotland to do the right thing for climate and nature.
However, his party had already called an emergency general meeting to vote on the future of the Bute House deal, amid anger that the Scottish governments abandoned their 2030 target to cut emissions climatic
The Rainbow Greens, the party’s LGBT wing, also pressured the leadership to end the deal on the puberty blockers decision, saying the Scottish Government doesn’t care about welfare or rights of transgender people in Scotland.
The Rainbow Greens also criticized the move by NHS Scotland and accused the Cass Review of being deeply flawed, biased and widely described by many of those involved as regularly ignoring witnesses and ignoring internationally accepted and peer-reviewed evidence. in pairs
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