No one kept data on Tavistock children — it’s a monumental scandal

Twenty years ago, David Freedman helped to conduct an audit of the first 124 young people referred to the gender clinic, now he discovers it was never followed up.

David Freedman, 73, helped to conduct a clinical audit of the first 124 young people referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) from its inception in 1989. The London-based service, part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, is the only dedicated NHS clinic for transgender children.

When he discovered his clinical audit from two decades ago remained the only one conducted by the service, Freedman said he was “gobsmacked”, adding: “This was a service that was sailing into uncharted territory with vulnerable children and adolescents, where one has an extra duty of care, and the failure to collect any data in a coherent form to look at what they were doing . . . it’s pretty mind-boggling.”

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Source: The Times, 19 March 2023