An Adelaide public hospital has admitted approving dangerous “gender-affirming treatment” for 22 children, one aged just 11, without the required psychiatrist assessment.
The Women’s and Children’s Hospital publicly apologised on Friday for not following South Australia Health guidelines, and chief executive Rebecca Graham said she had ordered a review of the hospital’s controversial gender clinic.
The minors aged 11 to 18 were approved for “treatment” between July 2023 and 2024 without psychiatric assessment even though so-called gender-affirming care includes puberty blockers and hormones, which can have irreversible effects and lead to sterilisation.
But Ms Graham said psychiatrists had later endorsed each diagnosis made by mental health clinicians and specialist doctors at the gender clinic, and claimed that the families were “highly supportive”, The Advertiser reported.
“We acknowledge that the model of care was not strictly followed as it should have been for these 22 young people and we apologise for that,” Ms Graham said.
“To provide certainty and assurance, I commissioned a review of the implementation of the clinic’s model of care which is currently underway with findings expected in the coming months.
“Staff have been reminded of the new model of care and WCHN has also provided additional psychiatry staffing to the service. Most importantly, no harm was identified with any of our patients and the subsequent psychiatry assessments supported all the original diagnoses.”
In January Queensland halted the use of puberty blockers for minors state-wide after a Cairns gender clinic was found to be prescribing them to children as young as 12 without the required consultations.
A comprehensive UK report released last year called the Cass Review warned against the use of puberty blockers for people under 18, resulting in the National Health Service in England changing its policies.
“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of [puberty blockers] to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” NHS England wrote.
“NHS England recommends that access to [puberty blockers] for children and young people with gender incongruence/dysphoria should only be available as part of research.”
The Adelaide gender clinic faced calls for a review in June last year after it was revealed eight children aged between three and 10 had been given “gender-affirming treatment”, with Independent MP Frank Pangallo calling the situation “disturbing”.
Header image credit: Adelaide Women and Children’s Hospital.
