Displaying items by tag: NHS

A 23-year-old woman taking legal action against an NHS gender clinic says she should have been challenged more by medical staff over her decision to transition to a male as a 16-year-old teenager. At the hearing, lawyers will argue that children cannot give informed consent to treatment delaying puberty or helping them to transition. The clinic runs the UK's only gender-identity development service. Pray for the two claimants, Keira Bell and Mum A - the mother of a 15-year-old girl with autism who is awaiting treatment at the clinic. Pray for stricter control of the puberty blockers that pause the development of breasts, periods, facial hair and voice-breaking. They are meant to give children more time to weigh up their options before going through the physical changes of puberty. Their impact on brain development and psychological health is not fully known.

Ministers and health officials are working to contain any UK coronavirus outbreaks. Public Health England began ‘Early Warning’ (See) coronavirus tests on patients with coughs, fevers or shortness of breath at 100 GP surgeries and 8 hospitals. The tests are employed (regardless of patients not having travelled to infected areas) to give early warnings of a more widespread infection developing. One employee of Chevron Oil was tested for the virus and 300 London staff were advised to work from home, Crossrail and media firm OMD staff are also working from home as a precaution. May calmness replace any anxiety in communities as pre-emptive moves are made to contain infection. Several schools have closed after pupils returned from half-term skiing trips in Italy. Pray for a peaceful atmosphere to cover homes of families who are self-isolating. May all awaiting test results experience calmness. Pray also for waves of common sense to flow through the nation as the media give daily virus updates. See also A pastor calls for calm

Last year we prayed for Christian doctor Richard Scott to be vindicated after a concerted and targeted attack against him by a secularist campaign group was thrown out by the General Medical Council (GMC). In June the National Secular Society registered ‘concern’ with the GMC that the GP was ‘continuing to pray and promote Christianity during consultations in an attempt to convert patients’. However, the GMC has ruled that there was no evidence and that he had done nothing wrong.

Susan Evans, a former psychiatric nurse, has launched a case in the High Court claiming that many children receiving gender reassignment treatment have been misdiagnosed; they are actually autistic, homosexual, or suffering from some form of diagnosable but non-related mental illness, including trauma resulting from sexual abuse. She is calling for an end to experimental and invasive medical treatment, with long-term and currently unknown consequences, arguing that children cannot possibly give informed consent to such life-changing and potentially hazardous treatments, and must be protected from exploitation and abuse. Meanwhile transgender children’s charities have criticised the case, saying that children should not be denied the right to make decisions about their own bodies, simply because they are trans. Mrs Evans argues, ‘Providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to under 18s is illegal because children cannot give valid consent to the treatment’.

Hospitals are putting vulnerable female patients with men on NHS mental health wards. 1,019 sexual assaults were reported by male and female patients between April 2017 and October 2019. 491 attacks were so serious that they required safeguarding action, with 104 incidents reported to police. Over the same period, just 286 cases reported on single- sex wards. The figures sparked calls for the Government to invest in mental health infrastructure where wards are out of date, forcing men and women to mix together. In 2018, the Care Quality Commission investigated concerns around sexual safety in mental health wards and identified 1,120 sexual incidents involving patients, staff and visitors between April and June 2017. Although ministers pledged to eliminate mixed NHS wards, a loophole in the rules means male and female patients can still mix without breaching the guidelines.

Christian doctor David Mackereth, with over 26 years of experience, found that for upholding Biblical truth you can lose your job. A judge has ruled that his belief in Genesis 1:27 is ‘incompatible with human dignity’. The judge is saying that there is no protection in law for the Biblical belief that God made humans unchangeably male and female, putting Christian truth in the same category as racist and Neo-Nazi views. David held to what God says about men and women and his Christian views were not protected in a UK court of law. He lost his job for telling the truth, and now an Employment Tribunal has ruled against him. Christian Concern’s expert legal team has already started work to take this case to an appeal tribunal.

A Christian man is calling for more caution from medical and mental health services after undergoing irreversible gender reassignment surgery. His story represents a stark warning to parents, government, and medical and educational services, at a time when figures released by the NHS reveal a 2,500% increase in referrals to gender identity clinics over the past decade. After an appointment with a psychiatrist, despite having suicidal thoughts and mental health issues on his medical records, he was automatically put on a waiting list for gender identity clinic with ‘no underlying medical conditions’. The NHS paid for the operation, which he now deeply regrets, saying, ‘When I see and hear of books such as “10,000 Dresses” being read to schoolchildren, I see the same influence that led me to this harmful addiction. More must be done to protect our children, not to encourage them to pursue the same destructive path that I did.’

A survey of 1,400 women with Down’s syndrome babies found that 69% were offered a termination. Nearly half who wanted to continue with the pregnancy were asked again. 91% were offered further tests after discovering a high chance of Down's. Of those who declined further tests, 44% were pressurised regardless. One mother said that, even though they made it clear that wasn't an option for them, professionals pushed them about fifteen times to terminate. ‘At 38 weeks they said if I changed my mind on the morning of the induction to let them know, because it wasn't too late; until the baby had started travelling down the birth canal, I could still terminate.’ Millions of pounds are poured into refining the Down’s screening process, whilst £5.33 per person per year is spent on research to improve the lives of people with Down's syndrome.

Favouring one food over everything else for a length of time can lead to health issues. A survey of 2,000 parents found that nearly half believe their child is a fussy eater. Autism-related sensory aversions are common as the person insists on ‘sameness’ and consistently eats the same food. This week a British teenager was left blind and partially deaf after living on a diet of chips, sausages and crisps because he did not like the ‘texture’ of fruit, vegetables and other foods. He developed a condition normally only seen in under-developed countries. Pray for dangerous eating to be recognised early by friends and family so that an NHS referral can be implemented. Pray for more feeding therapists to be trained so that families who identify unhealthy eating habits can access help, learn what is contributing to the condition, and develop overcoming strategies.

Over the past three years there has been a 50% increase of pupils aged 11 and under with mental health issues being referred to child health services. Some stay on waiting lists for years before being offered help. Three head teachers told the BBC of the lack of support for disturbed children in their schools where 4 and 5 year-olds self-harm (head-butt, punch walls, pull out chunks of their hair). Nationally, primary school head teachers are reporting a year on year increase of more and more seven and eight-year-old children with a variety of problems and they are finding it harder to manage the acute crisis. Four pupils have attempted to kill themselves on primary school grounds. Please pray for the teachers who are trained to teach, not engage in welfare work or embark on mental health counselling. Pray for the NHS to hear this cry from Educators and act now before the current support system breaks down. See also article in World section – Global Mental Health of the young and BBC report .