Question reference: S6W-26414
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 22 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Scotland regarding the use of puberty supressing hormones.
Answer
In the context of specialist provision of gender identity healthcare to children and young people, since publication of its Strategic Action Framework for Gender Identity Service improvement in December 2021, the Scottish Government has maintained an extensive dialogue with NHS Health Boards in Scotland on how to collectively work to improve healthcare provision in this sphere.
On 18 April, in a joint statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian confirmed that both Boards have paused any new prescription of puberty-supressing hormones and cross-sex hormones for young people as a treatment option for gender dysphoria.
The small number of patients directly impacted by this change, and their families, were notified in advance of this statement. It is right that they were the first to hear about it, sensitively and from the services caring for them, before a public statement was made.