The NHS is closing a major gender identity clinic for children after it was criticised for being ‘not safe’ in an independent review, amid increasing demand. The service will instead be moved to regional centres, being led by the Royal Manchester and Alder Hey Children’s Hospitals.
New centres are having to be set up to replace the clinic which had been provided by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Regional clinics will be set up to ‘ensure the holistic needs’ of patients are being met after warnings that having only one provider of gender identity services was ‘not a safe or viable long-term option’.
A service in the North West will be led by Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, with both trusts providing specialist mental health services.
