#sandyford scotland clinic

[talisidekick]

Lets take a deeper look. From the above link ...

... the wait time is about 4 years AT BEST. Likely longer for new self referrals.

And if we take a look at the NHS site for accepted numbers:

They can't service the number of referrals meaning the wait time is increasing! But why so many referrals? Well, these clinics don't just offer hormones, in fact from the same site:

Psychology! It's 4 years PLUS to see a therapist or psychologist if your kid even thinks they MIGHT be trans! It's not that the "number of trans folk are increasing too much" it's parents going "if my kid is trans, I'd best sign up now because it could be 4-6 years to even have them see a therapist to work through this". It's not an increase in trans people or people thinking their kid is trans and needs hormones, it's parents trying to utilize a system thats broken and recognizing the wait times are abysmal and being proactive because if the kid is 6 now, they can see a psych when they're 10 or 12, and by that time may have figured it out already and they can cancel the referral if the kid goes "nope, not trans".

These numbers don't say what the articles are trying to make people think they say. The take away is "the NHS and gender clinic referral system is overwhelmed and inherently broken and concerned parents and medical professionals recognize this and are accounting for it by referring kids and adults early to access psychology and therapy services relating to gender identity".

15 minutes on Google to find the Glasgow clinic and the NHS site information. It should speak volumes that proper journalism has stooped so low that a Canadian chick who doesn't even have her boots in the UK can do better reporting with her cellphone. Thats how low effort these anti-trans takes are to fabricate. Not interviews, phone calls, and people sources to debunk: public accessible websites accessed from a cellphone an entire ocean away.

"kids are getting indoctrinated into transgenderism" did you know that left handedness increased from 3% to 12% when they stopped beating left handed children.

[mxactivist]

UK petition: Sandyford Clinic [Scotland] to immediately continue to prescribe trans kids hormone blockers

[ Sign here ]

Following the Cass Review, trans kids are no longer able to receive puberty blocker prescriptions from Sandyford, Scotland's only gender identity clinic for under 18s. This is devastating news for trans kids who will now see their bodies change in ways that will trigger dysphoria. It will ultimately cost lives as trans kids are driven to suicide. All this will happen because of some despicable, manufactured "trans debate", where trans kids, and adults, are being used as a scapegoat for society's problems. Trans charities and advocate groups are condemning the awful Cass Review all over the country. The only groups celebrating this dreadful document are anti-trans ones. Hormone blockers have been used for decades safely, and the vast majority of trans kids that go on to transition are happy. A common argument against blockers is that trans kids are not old enough to make such decisions. This is exactly what puberty blockers are for; to hit the pause button on any irreversible changes; to give trans kids time to make these decisions. We urge Sandyford clinic to immediately resume providing trans kids with their life-saving puberty blockers.

[ Sign here ]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Mary McCool

Published: Apr 18, 2024

Scotland's NHS has paused prescribing puberty blockers to children referred by a gender identity clinic.

The Sandyford clinic in Glasgow also said new patients aged 16 or 17 would no longer receive other hormone treatments until they were 18.

It follows a landmark review of gender services for under-18s in England.

Dr Hilary Cass's review said children had been let down by a lack of research and there was "remarkably weak" evidence on medical interventions.

NHS England confirmed it would stop prescribing puberty blockers in March.

Puberty blockers work by suppressing the release of hormones that cause puberty and are often prescribed to children questioning their gender as a way of stopping physical changes such as breast development or facial hair.

Like other parts of the UK, Scotland has seen a rapid rise in the number of young people questioning their identity or experiencing gender dysphoria.

The only specialist service for under-18s is the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow, where people can self-refer or can be referred through their GP.

Figures released to BBC Scotland News under a freedom of information request, showed that at the end of 2023, 1,100 patients were on the waiting list.

As well as referrals for puberty blockers, the Sandyford also refers patients for "gender affirming hormones" such as testosterone or oestrogen to 16 and 17-year-olds.

In the NHS in England, fewer than 100 children - who had already started a prescription - are now taking puberty blockers.

In Scotland, the number is likely to be far smaller.

Following the position taken by NHS England, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) and NHS Lothian deferred starting new patients on the treatment in mid-March.

The Glasgow health board said patients had now been formally notified, however existing patients currently receiving treatment would not be affected.

Dr Emilia Crighton, NHSGCC's director of public health said: "The findings informing the Cass review are important, and we have reviewed the impact on our clinical pathways.

"The next step from here is to work with the Scottish government and academic partners to generate evidence that enables us to deliver safe care for our patients."

Review findings 'considered'

Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray welcomed the decision, saying the government and health boards are considering the recommendations of the Cass review.

He said: "We have been clear it is for clinicians and health boards to make decisions about clinical pathways, and that these decisions should be made carefully and based on the best evidence available.

"This is what both health boards have done and their position is supported by the chief medical officer.

"More broadly, the Cass review's final report and findings are being closely considered by both the Scottish government and health boards, in the context of how such healthcare can be best delivered in Scotland."

Vic Valentine, of Scottish Trans and the Equality Network, said pausing puberty blockers was the wrong decision and said it would "harm trans children and young people".

A statement said: "This decision has been taken within the context where the reality of trans people's experiences and lives is questioned almost daily in some of the media and some political circles.

"This makes us worry that the decision has been influenced by that context rather than solely through consideration of the best interests of trans children and young people."

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said the decision was "long overdue" and accused the government of leaking the news to the press "before having the decency to update parliament".

She called for an urgent ministerial statement so MSPs had a chance to ask questions on the matter.

She said: "I'm beyond fed up with this lackadaisical approach to gender care. They are failing children and young people."

--

==

"Social Murder Charter" is the best band name ever.

[allthegeopolitics]

Scotland’s only youth gender clinic has paused prescribing puberty blockers for under-18s. Prescriptions for under-18s currently on the waiting list are to be blocked following the decision by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC). The Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow also said that patients aged 16 and up would no longer receive hormone treatments until they are 18. The decision comes following a similar decision by NHS England last month after just over a week after the publication of the Cass report last week, which made recommendations to change NHS England’s approach to trans youth care.

Continue Reading

[ukftm]

Pretty urgent:

I finally reached the medical team at Sandyford and a request was put to my GP to do my blood tests. My appointment was booked for tomorrow morning, and they’ve just called me at 5pm to cancel and tell me that Sandyford need to do the bloods themselves. Can the GP refuse to do the blood test if it was ordered by an NHS service? And what can I do?

Hi Anon,

No your GP has no reason to cancel this, especially at the request of the GIC.

Contact your GP surgery and ask for the SPECIFIC reason why they are refusing to do your bloods? Then say “so to confirm you are refusing me treatment?” Then tell them you know that the general medical council clearly state: “GPs must co-operate with gender identity clinics and specialists to provide effective and timely treatment for trans and non-binary people.” (Link below). Then you say I also know that if a GP does refuse treatment, they must provide the SPECIFIC reason IN WRITING. Then you say as your GP is refusing you treatment without giving this in writing and is clearly acting out of discrimination and personal bias you will report them to your local NHS board or the general medical council.

They should hopefully totally back down at this stage as they know you have done your research. So you then say you want an appointment as soon as possible to get your bloods done and if you come up against any further issues like this you will take this to the GMC.

If they continue to refuse tell them you want to make an official complaint as you are being refused treatment because of your transgender identity. Take their name and the name of the GP that is refusing you treatment.

Tell them you will also now make a complaint to your local NHS board on grounds of gender discrimination and will be informing the GMC as that they are refusing you treatment, especially when this comes directly at the request of the GIC.

More and more GPs are doing things like this and there are no grounds for this other than PERSONAL opinion. Situations like this are simply a GP hoping you won’t know your rights and hoping you won’t take this any further.

You may also find this link helpful on getting help from the Patient Advice and Support Service:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/health/nhs-healthcare-s/nhs-patients-rights-s/#:~:text=If%20this%20happens%2C%20you%20should,Support%20Service%20for%20more%20help.

I have also attached the General Medical Councils guidelines for GPs so you can quote this when you are on the phone and can take this further. This is just one section of it:

Doctors personal beliefs:

Doctors may practise medicine in accordance with their beliefs, provided that they act in accordance with relevant legislation and:

do not treat patients unfairly

***do not deny patients access to appropriate medical treatment or services***

do not cause patients distress.

[coochiequeens]

A man who sexually assaulted a woman who was trying to help him after he claimed abuse by a female partner is now claiming to be a woman. Hell World.

A man who identifies as transgender is standing trial on accusations that he sexually assaulted two women on separate occasions. Adam Graham, 31, now goes by the the name “Isla Bryson” and was referred to by feminine pronouns both in court and in UK media coverage. Graham has been charged with raping the women with “her penis,” according to court documents.

The first alleged assault is said to have happened on September 16, 2016, in Clydebank. Graham reportedly pulled down the woman’s clothing and restrained her, forcibly penetrating her. According to the victim, Graham, being aware of the crime he committed, instructed the woman to “wash bedding” in an effort to destroy the evidence the following day. She also stated that Graham told her “not to disclose to anyone” the details of the assault.

In an attempt to secure her silence, Graham reportedly went on to threaten the victim’s family in order to secure her silence.

Though a pre-recorded statement, the victim gave testimony to the court noting that she had met Graham on dating app Badoo in July of 2016. After establishing rapport, Graham claimed he was being abused by a female partner. Concerned for his safety and wellbeing, the victim offered Graham shelter at her mother’s property, where she also lived, until which time he could be moved into a homeless unit. 

Graham reportedly began to show dramatic swings in behavior while staying at the property, screaming at a young boy the victim had been caring for. After a few weeks, he was moved to a homeless unit, but the two continued to see each other, with Graham staying over on Friday nights. 

According to the Clydebank Post, on the night of the assault, Graham entered the bedroom where she had been preparing for bed and locked the door. At first, the victim thought Graham was cuddling her, but said “everything felt weird and wrong.”

Graham then pulled the woman’s pajamas down and raped her despite her vocal protests. The assault only stopped when the victim’s mother turned on the hallway light outside of the bedroom.

Three years later, on June 27, 2019, Graham is said to have assaulted a second woman at an apartment in Glasgow. 

After having engaged in consensual sexual activity, the victim states, Graham became sexually violent and assaulted her. The court heard that Graham allegedly bit the victim, lay on top of her and restrained her, and went on to rape the woman “to her injury.”

An assault charge states that Graham additionally punched the woman the next day.

Defense advocate Edward Targowski told the High Court in Glasgow his client was pleading not guilty to all charges and was lodging a special defense of consent to two, as reported by The Scottish Sun.

A letter from Graham’s family doctor was presented in court as evidence of his transgender status. Dated August 5, 2022, the document stated Graham was “currently receiving the maximum recommended doses of Spironolactone and Finasteride” with a hormone prescription provided by Glasgow’s specialist sexual health service Sandyford Clinic.

Graham’s trial is expected to continue for at least five days more, and, if convicted, it is anticipated that he may be housed in a correctional facility for women. 

Currently in Scotland, a serial child sex offender who identifies as transgender is being held at a women’s prison, as is a disturbed male killer who now demands to be treated like a female infant.

Earlier this week, it came to light earlier that a serial rapist who targeted women in changing rooms and restrooms had begun identifying as transgender and is seeking a transfer to a women’s prison.

Last fall, it was revealed that half of Scotland’s prisoners who claim a transgender status began doing so only after they had been convicted of a crime. In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) confirmed there were 16 trans inmates in Scots prisons, of whom eight began to identify as transgender while “being cared for in custody following their remand or conviction for their current offence”.

However, the SPS said it was unable to disclose whether or not there were allegations of sexual misconduct involving the trans-identifying male prisoners due to the cost that would be involved in providing the information.

Scotland recently attempted to pass controversial amendments to the Gender Recognition Act which would streamline the process of altering sex markers on legal documents. Notably, an amendment to the bill which would have prohibited anyone convicted of a sexual offense from changing their legal sex was rejected.

Yet the final outcome of Scotland’s proposed Gender Recognition Reform Bill currently hangs in limbo. On January 17 and for the first time in the United Kingdom’s history, Westminster chose to invoke a Section 35 Orderto block the bill from obtaining Royal Assent. 

Under Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998, Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack can prevent a Holyrood bill from becoming a law if it is believed that the legislation would have an “adverse effect” on the application of laws reserved to Westminster.

By Genevieve Gluck Genevieve is the Co-Founder of Reduxx, and the outlet's Chief Investigative Journalist with a focused interest in pornography, sexual predators, and fetish subcultures. She is the creator of the podcast Women's Voices, which features news commentary and interviews regarding women's rights.

[identityarchitect]

Normally I wouldn't post about the specific clinic I'm seeing for not-doxxing-myself purposes but Sandyford is like one of two? three? clinics in Scotland. So I'm not particularly concerned.

[beardedmrbean]

A judge told the transgender rapist Isla Bryson that they were not “the victim in this situation”, as the 31-year-old was jailed for eight years.

Bryson, who committed the attacks while still known as Adam Graham, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday morning.

Lord Scott said that while he had access to medical reports which suggested Bryson was “vulnerable”, in part due to traumatic childhood events, this was “no excuse” for raping two women who had been “systematically” targeted.

Bryson claimed during the trial that they had known they were transgender at age four, although this was later questioned by their wife and mother who both said they had shown no interest in transitioning. Bryson only began living as a woman after being charged with rape.

The case was seen as contributing to the end of Nicola Sturgeon’s political career after the double rapist was initially sent to a female prison under a Scottish Prison Service (SPS) policy that followed the same principle as her gender self-ID laws.

The legislation has been blocked by the UK Government while the SPS has scrapped its own rules following an outcry. Bryson was moved to a male jail following an outcry although Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly refused to say whether she believes the rapist to be male or female.

‘Alternative account of events’

Sentencing Bryson, Lord Scott said it was clear that Bryson would pose a “particularly significant risk to any woman with whom you form a relationship”.

He said they had constructed “an alternative account of events” in which the two victims colluded together, and continued to deny the crimes.

The claims of a conspiracy were “without any foundation” and had been rejected by the jury, he said.

“You see yourself as the victim in this situation,” Lord Scott said. “You are not. Regardless of your own vulnerability, in a period of just under three years, you raped two women who can both be regarded as vulnerable.”

Edward Targowski KC, for the defence, told the High Court in Edinburgh that Bryson had been subjected to “ill-judged, ill-informed and ignorant” comments about their decision to undergo gender reassignment. He said this included references to Bryson’s “dead name” of Adam Graham.

The lawyer also told the court that Bryson had decided to change their gender many years ago and had been given “maximum” amounts of medication to help achieve this by doctors at the Sandyford Clinic, a specialist clinic in Glasgow.

Bryson was on an NHS waiting list which was several years long for a gender reassignment operation, Mr Targowski said.

However, Bryson’s estranged wife, Shonna Graham, has described claims to identify as a woman as “a sham”. The rapist’s mother, Janet Bryson, said her son never showed any interest in living as a girl while growing up.

Bryson attacked two women in Clydebank and Glasgow in 2016 and 2019. They were both raped in their own homes, after Bryson met them online, a setting in which Lord Scott said they “were entitled to feel entirely safe”.

Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory shadow community safety minister, said that Bryson may serve as little as four years, a prospect that “will likely be of little comfort to victims”.

‘Full scrutiny’

He added: “They’ve already suffered from the perverse decision to address this rapist as ‘she’ and by Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary refusing to say what everyone in Scotland can see with their own eyes - that Bryson is a man.

“Even following Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden resignation, the SNP government continues to attempt to dupe the public by saying this case has nothing to do with its gender self-ID bill.

“But if this SNP law is enacted, it will be wide open to exploitation by giving the legal right to sex offenders to declare they are female, no matter the risks to women and girls.

“Going forward, the prison service must publish its delayed new policy on transgender prisoners, allowing for full scrutiny, feedback and, if necessary, amendment.”

Bryson was placed on the sex offenders’ register and will be supervised for three years after release.

[loveinclusion]

Gender service for teenagers changes rules: independent applications no longer accepted

The Scottish Youth Gender Service in Glasgow will stop accepting patients who seek help directly. Access to services provided at the Sandyford Gender Clinic will now only be possible with a referral from a GP, according to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC). The decision follows advice from the Chief Medical Officer, who assessed the feasibility of implementing the findings of the Cass Review of Gender Services for Children and Young People in Scotland.

[thecynicalartist]

.

[ukrfeminism]

3 minute read

The psychiatrist who blew the whistle on children’s gender services at the Tavistock clinic has called for the equivalent clinic in Scotland to close immediately.

David Bell said that the Sandyford young people’s gender service in Glasgow was based on a similar model to the north London clinic that is being shut down over safety concerns.

Bell, a former staff governor at Tavistock and author of a report that raised concerns about its gender identity development service (Gids), also warned that the SNP government’s stance on affirming gender transition was “likely to make it more difficult for them to see the damage that is being done to children by inappropriate, experimental treatment”.

The Scottish government intends to reform the Gender Recognition Act to make it significantly easier for trans people to legally declare their gender without having to obtain a medical diagnosis. It will cut the length of time that someone has to live in their new gender before being legally recognised from two years to six months.

Bell’s comments follow the announcement that NHS England is shutting the Tavistock clinic, after a review found it was “not a safe or viable long-term option” and that other mental health issues were “overshadowed” when gender was raised by children referred to the clinic. Children who questioned their gender were often prescribed puberty blockers, despite a lack of long-term research into their effects.

Dr Hilary Cass, the paediatrician who led that investigation, said that rather than a single national service there should be regional centres linked to wider paediatric mental health services taking a “holistic” view of their patients’ needs. The Scottish government has said it will “closely consider” the conclusions of the Cass review.

Bell noted that the Sandyford service, which is described as primarily assisting “people who are transgender to facilitate medical and surgical treatments”, was strikingly similar to the model at Tavistock. He said children being seen by gender clinics tended to have other problems, including autism, depression, chaotic homes and a family history of sexual abuse.

“These children have been disadvantaged by being sent to a service that only deals with gender,” he said. “These children must be treated like any other children who have psychological problems.

“The other specific problem is puberty blockers. In my view it should be an extremely rare occurrence that you should block a child’s puberty. I still consider it an experimental treatment because Gids — and I expect the same in Scotland — had not followed up those patients.”

In the wake of the Cass recommendations, research has been commissioned in England to follow up Gids patients and collect information about their outcomes.

Bell said this should also happen to former Sandyford patients, but added that “no child should go through that model at all”.

He added: “There are quite a lot of studies showing if these children are helped in a different way, with expert attention and gender neutrality, they give up their wish.

“A lot emerge as gay and lesbian young people . . . We want to celebrate gender fluidity, so people can keep their sex body but express their gender how they wish to.”

Bell, who has previously addressed the Scottish parliament on gender issues, said that the Sandyford clinic “should be closed down immediately” and insisted there “should not be a national service”.

He said a significant proportion of the SNP leadership had been persuaded by “trans ideology” and this could affect how services were provided. He said: “It does indeed make them more reluctant to address these issues.”

The decision on the future of Sandyford gender services can only be taken by NHS Scotland and Scottish ministers.

A Scottish government spokesman said: “We recognise the need to provide the best possible care for young people questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria.

“As we have previously stated, we will closely consider the findings of the Cass review within the context of NHS Scotland services as part of our broader commitment to improve access to, and delivery of, NHS gender identity services.”

Case study

My teenage daughter has said that she identifies as trans and has been referred to Sandyford. We knew she was struggling with anxiety, like thousands of other children during the pandemic, but she had not told us about her gender concerns.

We had explored options to help with her anxiety, but child and adolescent mental health services were too busy to add her to their waiting lists. I feel utterly terrified about her plans to change gender. We know there are issues which might be affecting her, but we do not know if she would receive help with those problems at the Sandyford clinic.

I do not want my daughter to suffer but I think it would be better if she could work on what is underlying her anxiety.

I see what is being talked about in England and it gives me some hope that at least part of the UK is moving in a better direction. I am quite worried about living in a part of the country that seems fixated on transgender ideology, potentially at the expense of the health of young people. I find myself having less trust in the Scottish system.

Nicola Sturgeon seems to indicate that the way to go is to affirm new gender identities. If that is the message from the top of the government I find it hard to see how the Scottish NHS will take a more cautious approach.

Father of a trans teenager in Scotland 

[bumblee-stumblee]

gender-identity-clinics-across-scotland-secretly-use-extreme-guidelines-from-controversial-trans-group/ar-AA13ruAn?cvid=9cbaefe1d88d44c099e71af2107fe64a

Gender identity clinics across Scotland secretly use extreme guidelines from controversial trans group

World Professional Association for Transgender Health says teenagers should be able to access sex change surgery without parents’ support

By

Daniel Sanderson,

SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENT

27 October 2022 • 4:53pm

Sandyford Clinic’s gender identity service is ‘modelled and informed’ by WPATH guidelines according to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde CREDIT: Mirrorpix

Clinicians at Scottish gender clinics are following guidelines issued by a body that advocates sex-change surgery for children.

In a leaked recording, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, a consultant clinical psychologist at the Sandyford Clinic states explicitly that gender clinics are following advice issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), despite the NHS and Scottish Government denying this is the case.

WPATH presents itself as a global body of medical professionals but its critics believe it is little more than a lobbying group, set up to legitimise an extreme form of gender ideology. It believes people who identify as eunuchs should be able to receive castrations on the NHS.

In its new guidelines, which were released in September, it calls for “eunuch” to be recognised as an official gender identity and for “surgical intervention” to be considered for those who “wish to eliminate masculine physical features”.

Its guidelines provide a link to a eunuch fetish website that contains graphic depictions of child abuse so extreme that when they were examined by NHS cyber security staff, they recommended it was reported to Police Scotland.

The guidelines also endorse use of breast binders and “genital tucking” for teenagers, despite health risks, and states that adolescents should be able to access sex change surgery, even if this is not supported by their parents.

The senior clinician at the Sandyford, which runs Scotland’s only specialised gender identity clinic for children, claimed guidelines issued by WPATH were already being followed by gender clinics even when they were in draft form.

Meanwhile, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said Sandyford’s gender identity service is “modelled and informed” by WPATH guidelines.

Trina Budge, a director at the For Women Scotland campaign group, repeated her call for the Sandyford, which has been branded “Sturgeon’s Tavistock” and has links with the scandal-hit English clinic, to be shut down.

“It is beyond irresponsible for Sandyford clinicians to have charged ahead with implementing WPATH’s new treatment guidelines,” she said.

“The embedding of this widely discredited treatment protocol that actually reduces the age at which children can access dangerous and experimental drugs is the opposite to the carefully thought out and evidenced good practice being introduced in England.”

She added: “When senior NHS staff are still denying any connection with WPATH it is reprehensible that vulnerable children are caught in the crossfire of mismanagement and substandard care.”

Child castration and sexual abuse

Major concerns have been raised about the Sandyford after a senior clinician, in a presentation recorded by a whistleblower, suggested patients were being offered irreversible treatments after only basic mental health assessments.

She acknowledged that a “robust evidence base” did not exist for its methods, but that staff saw their main role as to “get them [patients] on treatment.”

NHS National Services Scotland has previously attempted to distance itself from WPATH.

In the summer, the health service apologised for a scandal in which a WPATH document, including a link to a website with graphic fictional depictions of child castration and sexual abuse, was uploaded to an NHS website.

A probe classified the blunder as a “category 1 event” - the most serious - with the “child abuse imagery” leading to a referral to Police Scotland, according to internal documents.

On June 23, the NHS said “it is incorrect to state that the gender clinics follow the WPATH guidance.” It insisted there were no plans for the updated WPATH guidelines, which were released in September, “to be incorporated or followed either”.

On September 28, asked whether the new guidelines would be adopted, the Scottish Government said: “No, NHS Scotland will not be adopting these guidelines.”

However, the senior clinician, in a private NHS webinar on June 17, said draft versions of the rules were already being followed in Scotland.

NHS treatment protocol for trans patients

“We obviously adhere to clinical guidelines,” she said. “The WPATH are the World Professional Association of Transgender Health. They’re international guidelines that all the gender services adhere to.

“We all adhere to these guidelines, they are on version eight of their Standards of Care. So they’re not completely finalised yet but we are adhering to the draft chapters of each of the relevant service areas.”

Other documents show that trans activists from LGBT Youth Scotland, a charity that received almost £400,000 last year from the Scottish Government, have been lobbying behind the scenes for WPATH to be endorsed in a new NHS treatment protocol for trans patients.

When the final version of the guidelines were circulated within NHS Scotland, a doctor expressed concern that “notably chapter 9 with the eunuch reference... is still there, along with the web link”.

NHS National Services Scotland has been approached for comment.

NHS, Scotland

______________

The article is behind a paywall this is the link to read it.

This was something that reduxx had written about as well.

Thank you Nymous 💕

[calamitys-child]

How long did you have to wait for your referral to go through to the GIC? I’ve been on a waiting list since 2020 and heard nothing back.

So my timeline in essence has been like. A little chaotic, I have adhd and was in a pandemic so i dont have the greatest grasp on how time passes, and obviously people not in central Scotland may experience things very differently but.

February 2018 - Self referral to Sandyford clinic in Glasgow pretty much the instant I was 18 and financially independent

2018-2020 - got thoroughly ignored by Sandyford

~April 2020 - got made redundant due to The Covid, my bosses tried to fuck me over by not paying severance but someone else at the company pointed out that meant they owed me over a grand in back holiday pay. Immediately had a lockdown breakdown and spent all of that going private, rendering myself Very Skint

July 2020 - first appointment with private clinic YourGP in Edinburgh, got my first letter of diagnosis here. Costs ~£350 per appointment iirc and you need three appointments before you can start T or anything

July - December 2020 - those happened. Two diagnostic appointments, one of which was a therapist/psych screening, and a prescription appointment during which they lost the psych letter and had to delay prescribing. Medical Competence :)

December 4th 2020 - started half dose (1 pump daily) testogel. I went for gel because it was the cheapest option (~£35/bottle plus £20 prescription fee, I'd pick up two bottles at a time so it was ~£90 every couple months) and because I could self administer it, because. It was 2020 and every nurse in the world was so fucking busy. However my plan was to switch to sustanon when I was able to access a GP more reliably

~ March 2021 - started full dose testogel (2 pumps daily). This was also roughly when Sandyford finally picked me up so I no longer had to pay my prescription fee. Legally changed my name

October 2021 - asked Sandyford to change me from testogel to sustanon, and to refer me to the Chalmers clinic in Edinburgh as I'd moved back to Edinburgh now

EVERY SINGLE WEEK between December 2021 and April 2022 - emailed Sandyford saying "Hiya! Neither myself nor my GP have yet received the prescription and referral I was due to receive last October. Can you please confirm you are sending us this information? Thank you for your help!". Got ignored every single time until ~April 12th ish when they finally called my GP

April 22nd 2022 - finally started sustanon, 1ml every 3 weeks. Was given a list of potential top surgery providers to look into

July 26th 2022 - first appointment with Chalmers. Reviewed 3 months bloods - my T levels are slightly low but it could be due to not being bang on the 3 months mark, so we're gonna wait another 3 months to see if this evens out or if I would do better on nebido. Wrote up surgery referral letter and I just need to call and confirm with my final decision on which surgery team I want

July 27th 2022 - I have been on hold for forty six minutes with increasing fits of nervous laughter at the fact the main top surgery team people in Scotland get referred to is. Man Chester.

From here - it'll probably be about 2 years till my surgery at this point given wait times

I hope this is a vaguely helpful overview, if you've any questions about any of it in more detail just shout - im happy to answer pretty much anything asked in good faith and will just politely say no if it's something I don't want to discuss publicly:)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: As told to Helen Puttick

Published: May 11, 2024

I have worked for 20 years with mental health patients in Scotland. Before the pandemic I saw only two people who were transitioning. Both were men who identified as women.

My caseload is small because my patients have complex problems. Over the past two and a half years, however, I have looked after nine female patients who wish to be men. Most are in their late teens to early twenties. Emotionally they are quite young.

They are in fact among the most vulnerable patients I have seen, often struggling with multiple mental health issues after difficult childhoods.

Dr Hilary Cass, who wrote the report on the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service in England, addressed the Scottish parliament last week.

Just as she says, some of my patients are on the autistic spectrum, others have survived childhood trauma including neglect and sexual abuse. Among those transitioning are patients with eating disorders, patients using self-harm to cope and patients with borderline personality disorders who struggle with distress.

During our appointments some patients have described growing up without clean clothes or help with basic personal hygiene. They have talked about their poor social circumstances and being unable to afford the normal things most children have. They grew up feeling they were on the outside, ostracised by their parents and their peers.

They have endured all of this, pouring their energy into surviving at the cost of maturing. And then, with little idea of their own identity, they have found the camaraderie of a trans peer group and embraced the idea that they were born in the wrong body.

They now believe it is their body that is wrong and needs to change. This view has then been endorsed by the NHS, schools and even politicians. No one has said to them: “You are fine just the way you are. Let’s help you.”

I read all their psychiatric reports and psychological assessments, and I see little evidence that anyone has worked to help them to accept their bodies. Reference is made to anxiety, depression or trauma, alongside being referred to Scotland’s transgender clinics.

Professionals seem too frightened to question whether changing gender is what these patients really need.

These young people are at different stages in their transitions, but some are taking testosterone. The advice is clear that long-term use of cross-sex hormone treatment can cause infertility, even if the treatment is stopped.

These girls, robbed of their own childhoods, are at a young age potentially losing the chance of ever conceiving or carrying a baby themselves. It is upsetting thinking about their pasts and also what their future may hold.

Some of these patients say they will feel better when their breasts have been removed. That conviction can make it difficult for them to engage with therapy now. They believe their answers lie on the operating table.

My professional judgment is that changing gender will not improve their lives.

Some of these patients are on the autistic spectrum and could have a different perspective if they had been supported at school.

I worry that many will look back at the NHS in a few years and think: “What have you done to me? I have no breasts and I cannot have children. My life is wrecked just like my childhood was wrecked.” I feel I am seeing a medical scandal unfold before my eyes.

The Sandyford gender clinic in Glasgow is not a mental health service. A leak to The Daily Telegraph in 2022 suggested that patients were being offered irreversible treatments with only basic mental health assessments. Staff saw their main role as being to “get them on treatment”.

I am not saying no one should transition, just that the first line of treatment has to include asking and exploring why a person feels they are in the wrong body. Support should be considered in line with that. Helping people to accept the body they have should be fundamental, not taboo.

I have chosen to remain anonymous because otherwise I would be frightened of losing my job or being targeted by trans activists.

We could all say we are non-binary on the basis of gender stereotypes, because none of us fits them. Let us recognise that it is the stereotypes that are harmful here — and not cause further harm.

This is the view of a mental health professional in Scotland on her patients changing gender

[bisexual-slime]

Wait, why is the waitlist that long?? If the nhs lists are so so long doesnt it go against the many gc claims that getting medical transition is too easy and that there should be more gatekeeping?? I'm not dysphoric but i've never had to wait 1+ year to get a treatment medication for other conditions. Or does it vary by location? Is there a masterpost about it? Or does nobody care about facts outside of dunking on the trans and faking concern??

I think it's definitely WAY easier to medically transition in the US because I see so many stories from detransitioners saying all they did was walk into Planned Parenthood and were given hormones more or less on the spot but in the UK, because our healthcare is public rather than private and is provided by the government, waiting lists are impossible to avoid. But it differs by location within the UK as well as the clinic you contact. I'm in Glasgow, Scotland so our main gender clinic is The Sandyford GIC. When I self referred to them in January 2018, their waiting time was 12 months. And then it turned into a year and a half. And then after what felt like a century, I was finally seen by them after 3 years. I had 2 appointments with a psychiatrist. But I most likely won't be starting medical transition until the end of 2022 because I'm planning on freezing my eggs before starting testosterone and I'm on a 6-7 month waiting list for that. So the TLDR version is: it differs by location as well as the service, but in my personal experience, it has NOT been easy whatsoever to access hormones in the UK. The wait has been deeply distressing and stressful. I started socially transitioning in 2016 so to have to wait so long for this has been very disheartening.

[ukftm]

for the anon asking about the under 18s sandyford service. You can self refer at any age. It’s about a year on the waiting list and for me I was cleared for T on the second appointment. You can message me if you would like. Also one of the doctors have recently been off so there is a back log of appointments for anyone who was wondering if their appointment has been delayed

Thanks for the information!

~ Alex