'There's no such thing as a trans child': Tavistock clinic whistleblower claims doctors have been ‘captured by ideology’
10 April 2024, 18:52
Tavistock whistleblower David Bell has said "there is no such thing as being born in the wrong body" and the approach of immediately agreeing with a child has caused "considerable damage to generations of children and young people".
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Dr Bell - who was a consultant psychiatrist at the Tavistock Portman NHS Foundation and raised concerns over the trust's gender identity development service - said "affirming a child in what they say is not an appropriate clinical stance".
He said it was "rather shocking" that psychologists and doctors who are trained to put the needs of a child first were so easily captured by a transgender ideology.
It comes after the Cass Review's final report said children have been let down by a lack of research and evidence on medical interventions in gender care, in a debate which it said has become exceptionally toxic.
Dr Bell said he was not surprised by the findings of the report.
Dr David Bell 'not surprised' by findings of the Cass report
Speaking to LBC's Tom Swarbrick, Dr Bell said: "There is no such thing as being born in the wrong body. There isn't a kind of biological essence of gender that you're born into.
"You're born as your biological sex, and of course, you're the way you identify and your gender is mainly not completely, but it's mainly a constructive socially through your family and the social world that you live in.
"So I think it's right in a way to say there's no such thing as a transgender child in the sense that forecloses.
"Trying to understand a better term is gender dysphoria or gender stress. How this happens is part of a much bigger thing.
"It's not just about the clinic, it's about the it's about the whole culture. It's about the universities.
"It's about private organisations and businesses. The whole world has got invaded by a transgender ideology."
He continued: "The effect on the clinic seems to be part of that. But it is rather shocking.
"I agree with you that psychologists and doctors who are trained to put the needs of a child first were so easily captured by this ideology, and that's been the same in many other countries and in many other countries."
Tom Swarbrick says Be Kind Brigade were 'seduced' by the language of 'being born in the wrong body'
Responding to the report's findings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier said: "The wellbeing and health of children must come first."
Among the 32 recommendations in the near-400 page report, the independent review of gender identity services for children and young people said a "follow-through service" should be put in place for 17-25-year-olds, with regional centres either extending the age range of their patients or through "linked services".
Responding to the report, NHS England said it had written to local NHS leaders to pause first appointment offers at adult gender clinics to young people before their 18th birthday, and is "bringing forward its systemic review of adult gender services".
In a letter to Dr Cass, officials said that review will now "be undertaken in the context of a broader, systemic review of the operation and delivery of the GDCs (gender dysphoria clinics)".
NHS England said it will provide detail "very soon" but it is understood it will be a Cass-style review led by an independent expert.
