Medical experts have claimed that the Cass Review was full of “implicit stigma and misinformation”.

A team of paediatric experts and medical professionals expressed significant concerns that the independent review into health care for trans youngsters in the UK did not provide “credible, evidence-based guidance,” and was having a negative effect.

Commissioned in 2020, the report made upwards of 32 recommendations to restructure the way transgender youngsters received care. Shortly after it was published in April last year, the Conservative government imposed a ban on private prescriptions for puberty blockers, a physically reversible hormone replacement medication prescribed to trans people under the age of 18.

The ban was extended indefinitely in December, following Labour’s landslide victory at the general election.

Studying the effects of the report, more than a year on from its publication, researchers from 15 different paediatric care institutions in Australia said they were “gravely concerned” about the well-being of trans and gender-diverse people.

Published on the Medical Journal of Australia website on Monday (6 October) and titled “Cass Review does not guide care for trans young people”, the new research claimed that not only had there been a failure to sufficiently justify the recommendations in the Cass Review, but its authors had not disclosed their “positionality” on transgender care.

“Good medicine is guided by the values of the patient, not those of a clinician, politician or commentator,” the researchers said.

“A patient’s goal of achieving optimal quality of life as a trans person requires respect. The Cass Review, lacking expertise and compromised by implicit stigma and misinformation, does not give credible evidence‐based guidance. We are gravely concerned about its impact on the well-being of trans and gender‐diverse people.”

Studying the report’s analysis of core aspects of gender-affirming medical treatment (GAMT), the researchers went on to criticise a “subjective” choice of studies, several of which, they claimed, were “out of date, while the recommendation to restrict trans healthcare to combat the number of detransitions, ignored scientific papers which had shown rates of regret to be low, particularly when compared with other surgeries and life decisions.

“There is no evidence that restrictions on GAMT reduce regret,” the experts wrote. “Instead, the predictable consequence of restricting GAMT is to increase self-treatment without medical supervision.”

Report failed to consider young trans voices, experts said

Very little of the Cass Review considered the concerns of trans adolescents with whom officials met, the new analysis pointed out.

“Young people were not asked whether they experienced GAMT as beneficial,” the experts said. “In contrast, voices of doubt and speculative concern from non-trans adults are extensively quoted.”

Cass-commissioned reviews into the effectiveness of GAMT found no evidence that it caused serious harm, they went on to claim.

A study published in June showed that the ban on puberty blockers was having “serious adverse effects” on the mental health of young transgender people.

PinkNews has reached out to Dr Hilary Cass for comment.

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