{"id":4894,"date":"2025-04-28T16:33:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T16:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/?p=4894"},"modified":"2025-04-29T11:36:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T11:36:30","slug":"children-who-identify-as-trans-to-be-tested-for-autism-under-new-nhs-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/28\/children-who-identify-as-trans-to-be-tested-for-autism-under-new-nhs-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Children who identify as trans to be tested for autism under new NHS rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recommendations for an overhaul of gender identity treatments are set to be implemented (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Children referred to NHS <\/a>gender<\/a> identity clinics could be screened for neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism<\/a> and ADHD.<\/p>\n

New services are being set up in the wake of the Cass Review of gender-related treatment for young people.<\/p>\n

The review led to a UK ban on puberty blockers for under-18s experiencing gender dysphoria and found patients’ mental health<\/a> was not being fully assessed. <\/p>\n

A draft specification for the new services, seen by The Telegraph<\/a>, said: ‘Given\u00a0the high prevalence of neurodiversity identified within this population, all those attending the NHS Children and Young People\u2019s Gender Service should receive screening for neurodevelopmental conditions.’<\/p>\n

The conditions will include ADHD, autism, learning disabilities and other mental health issues.<\/p>\n

Doctors will reportedly be asked to build a ‘detailed history’ of the patient’s cognitive, social and physical growth to account for ‘substantial’ changes that happen during puberty.<\/p>\n

Patients will be treated by a ‘multidisciplinary team’ of experts who will create individual plans for each individual depending on their diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Those with a suspected neurodevelopmental condition could be referred to separate specialists who will help determine whether the child’s symptoms are caused by the condition. <\/p>\n

They would then be treated for the condition while kept under review by a gender clinic to see if they also need separate treatment for gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n

The guidance, which could be changed after public consultation, was drawn up in the wake of the Cass Review, whose final report was published last year.<\/p>\n

The review was led by Dr Hilary Cass, a retired consultant paediatrician and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.<\/p>\n

It carried out seven new reviews of existing scientific literature and more than a thousand interviews with trans youths, clinicians and others. <\/p>\n

The report concluded current medical practice for gender issues are built on ‘shaky foundations’ and ‘weak evidence’.<\/p>\n

A \u00a310 million NHS-funded clinical trial looking into the effectiveness and risks of pubity blockers is set to start this year and run until 2031.<\/p>\n

Dr Cass pointed to a link between the rise in teenage girls ‘struggling with gender identity, suicidal ideation and self-harm’ and ‘undiagnosed autism, which is often missed in adolescent girls’.<\/p>\n

One study found transgender people were three to six times more likely than others to be on the autistic spectrum.<\/p>\n

The draft specification also referred to ‘evidence of an increased frequency of family parental physical and\/or mental ill health and other family stressors in this group’. <\/p>\n

The Cass Review’s recommendations have been supported by the Royal College of GPs, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Association of Clinical Psychologists.<\/p>\n

The British Medical Association (BMA), the trade union which represents 190,000 doctors, initially called for a pause in implementing the recommendations but changed to a ‘neutral’ stance late last year.<\/p>\n

The NHS said: ‘We will soon be going to full public consultation on this draft specification, which sets out the new holistic assessment framework that was described by Dr Cass in her report.<\/p>\n

‘NHS England has recently changed the referral pathway so child patients can only access gender services that we commission if they\u2019re referred by a paediatrician or a child and adolescent mental health worker.’<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recommendations for an overhaul of gender identity treatments are set to be implemented (Picture: Getty) Children referred to NHS gender identity clinics could be screened for neurodevelopmental conditions such as<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Children who identify as trans to be tested for autism under new NHS rules<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4894"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4894"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4896,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4894\/revisions\/4896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}