We are highly concerned at the continuing and increasing politicisation of trans young people’s healthcare, as evidenced by the publication by the Department for Health and Social Care late yesterday afternoon of a report dismissing claims that restricting treatment has led to an increase in suicides of trans young people.
We start from the point that any suicide is a tragedy – as well as the loss of a loved person’s life, there are significant impacts on family and friends. We do what we do to eliminate such tragedies.
We have significant concerns over the data used for the so-called “independent” report, data which has not been forthcoming despite many Freedom of Information requests from others. We also note that the data examined appears to ignore those thousands of people on waiting lists and have not yet received any care from the NHS.
In our evidence to the recent High Court hearing on the restriction of puberty blockers, we included 5 coroners reports regarding suicides of young trans people who had been waiting for NHS treatment. All of these were published in 2021 or later. All of these called for NHS England to urgently and significantly improve mental health support for those on waiting lists, and to take action to reduce the waiting lists. This alone makes us doubt the figures in the report.
We would ask those who determine the options open under the NHS to consider how young trans people are supposed to feel when medication which would delay or prevent unwanted changes caused by puberty are withdrawn (but only for trans people), and not replaced by anything substantive. We would point to the increasing number of international studies, including one published in Queensland, Australia, in the last couple of days which show that effective healthcare provision includes puberty blockers alongside other therapies and significantly improves young people’s mental health.
We also are concerned at the continuing implication that autistic people are, in some way, incapable of understanding themselves. We would remind people that the majority of trans people are not autistic, but that existence of other conditions such as autism should not affect the treatment options open to them.
When the government and the NHS have done so much over recent years to destroy trans people’s trust in their systems, making access to healthcare significantly harder, a report essentially saying “trust us” simply won’t wash. Rather than the complacent attitude that suicides are inevitable, we need real action.
We say to the new Labour government that, while we didn’t expect things to dramatically improve the moment you came into power, we did expect that you would stop fanning the flames powering the anti-trans narrative. This is why so many trans people are now angry with you. We feel you have let us down badly. We urge you to talk to trans people, listen to our stories and struggles, and stop treating us as a philosophical issue.
We finish by saying to young trans people that you are loved and you are special. What is happening to your healthcare in this country is appalling, and we will use every tool at our disposal to get to the point where all trans people can access the healthcare they need when they need it.
Further Information
For further information email us at press@transactual.org.uk