The cass review, as its called, came out last week, and it recommends a new approach for clinicians. This is a Polarising Subject for some people. So, what mightjournalism do differently in how it covers it . Hannah barnes is a former bbc producer who investigated some of the uks gender Identity Services for the corporations newsnight programme. She went on to write a book about it. I asked her when she first started her investigation. First came across it at all in 2017. I was off on my first Maternity Leave and there was a piece in the times Byjanice Turner Which was talking about this really rapid increase in the referrals of Teenage Girls to gids the gender Identity Development service and she had spoken to two clinicians who worked at the service. It wasnt really a Big Sort Of Whistle blowy piece but they had talked to her and said what theyd seen and itjust i thought it was very interesting, but i was off and, you know, spending time with my baby. And there was also a documentary
So, thats what started it. So, what were you doing . Were you approaching them at that point . Were you trying to find out who these Whistle Blowers were or they were in the Public Domain and you were trying to get access . What were you trying to do . Ijust started trying to speak to as many people as possible both those who had written about this very early, because there wasnt that much around about it at the time. I spoke i was talking to a couple of clinicians. I met them Face To face in that spring. And i spoke with a Oxford Associate Professor called michael biggs, whod found some unpublished data on a study that gids had done on puberty blockers. And thats where our first film, myself and deborah cohen, who was Health Correspondent at the time, thats where it started. Yes, because i was going to say, you know, as you mentioned, i was working with you at newsnight at the time. I remember you and Deb Cohen doing this series of reports. How would you so, that was for newsnight. Ho
Have been Life Saving for them. And, similarly, ive spoken to people for whom it has been absolutely disastrous and harmful. Now, what all this is saying is we cant go on anecdote. We just dont know. We havent got long term data that supports this. But if you approach this like you would any other area of health care, the Evidence Isnt there to support this intervention. I agree with that. I dont know how much truth youre going to get at. I think that every Patient Experience is a different one and that, in turn, is completely normal, so its very hard to capture an average Patient Experience. Right. And if we look at what cass, you know, another thing that cass writes in her report, she says, one of the major challenges for the review has been the difficulty in having open, honest debate as people with differing views can find it uncomfortable to sit together in the same room or on the same stage. That slightly points to the sort of Culture Wars conversations or feelings around this su
And similarly, i ve spoken to people for whom it has been absolutely disastrous and harmful. now, what all this is saying is we can t go on anecdote. we just don t know. we haven t got long term data that supports this. but if you approach this like you would any other area of health care, the evidence isn t there to support this intervention. i agree with that. i don t know how much truth you re going to get at. i think that every patient experience is a different one and that, in turn, is completely normal, so it s very hard to capture an average patient experience. right. and if we look at what cass, you know, another thing that cass writes in her report, she says, one of the major challenges for the review has been the difficulty in having open, honest debate as people with differing views can find it uncomfortable to sit together in the same room or on the same stage. that slightly points to the sort of culture wars conversations or feelings around this subject. rebecca, did
Be going on. so, that s what started it. so, what were you doing? were you approaching them at that point? were you trying to find out who these whistle blowers were or they were in the public domain and you were trying to get access? what were you trying to do? ijust started trying to speak to as many people as possible both those who had written about this very early, because there wasn t that much around about it at the time. i spoke i was talking to a couple of clinicians. i met them face to face in that spring. and i spoke with a oxford associate professor called michael biggs, who d found some unpublished data on a study that gids had done on puberty blockers. and that s where our first film, myself and deborah cohen, who was health correspondent at the time, that s yes because i was going to say, you know, as you mentioned, i was working with you at newsnight at the time. i remember you and deb cohen doing this series of reports. how would you so, that was for newsnight. h