The NHS’s only children’s gender transition clinic is currently running ‘conversion therapy for gay kids’ in a bid to persuade them that they are really trans, a gay psychologist who worked there has claimed.
Dr Matt Bristow said he feared that the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust was ignoring the possibility that boys and girls who told clinicians they wanted to change their sex might simply be homosexual.
His claim has emerged in witness statements for Sonia Appleby, a psychotherapist at the clinic who is suing the trust for allegedly ostracising her after she raised concerns over the use of puberty blockers.
The Tavistock clinic in London has been at the centre of growing controversy over its treatment of young people for suspected gender dysphoria.
The number of children wanting to change sex has rocketed in recent years, with the number of referrals to doctors for gender treatment in England among girls under 18 rising from 40 in 2009 to 1,806 in 2017.
Dr Matt Bristow said he feared that the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust was ignoring the possibility that boys and girls who told clinicians they wanted to change their sex might simply be homosexual
Last year the High Court banned the use of puberty blockers without a court order giving permission on the grounds that children under 16 could not give informed consent to such treatment, which it called ‘experimental’.
The case was brought by Keira Bell, a teenage girl who started taking the drugs to become a boy and later regretted the treatment. An appeal against the ruling in the Bell case will be heard this week.
Dr Bristow said he was one of several gay members of staff at the clinic who felt concerned that patients’ homosexuality – and the possibility that gay children were saying they wanted to change sex because they were being bullied – was ignored.
He told staff at the clinic that they were doing ‘conversion therapy for gay kids’.
The Sunday Times reports that in an exit interview when he left the trust, which forms part of Miss Appleby’s legal case, Dr Bristow said he was especially concerned about gay children who were referred to the service having been bullied.
Sonia Appleby claims her bosses’ actions left her unable to fulfil her role as a Named Professional for Safeguarding Children at Tavistock and Portman NHS Centre
The Tavistock clinic in London has been at the centre of growing controversy over its treatment of young people for suspected gender dysphoria. The number of children wanting to change sex has rocketed in recent years, with the number of referrals to doctors for gender treatment in England among girls under 18 rising from 40 in 2009 to 1,806 in 2017
In his exit interview, Dr Bristow told the clinic that in his view this may have motivated some to say they wanted to change sex and that the doctor ‘tried hard not to let [them] get drawn into the service’.
Dr Bristow also told the clinic that gay staff felt they ‘had to keep sexuality on the agenda, as otherwise it was completely ignored as a topic’.
A spokesman for the Tavistock told the Sunday Times: ‘The trust strongly refutes the claims. It will vigorously defend its position in the employment tribunal. The trust does not accept that it has penalised anyone for raising concerns.’
MailOnline has contacted the trust for further comment.
The employment tribunal continues.
