Review ordered into SA gender diversity service's compliance with state guidelines

ABC NEWS (Australia)

SA's gender diversity service did not refer almost two dozen children to a psychiatrist in line with government guidelines. The 22 children — aged between 11 and 18 — were assessed by senior mental health clinicians before receiving treatment, but they were not assessed by psychiatrists.

Transcript

00:00Rowan De Silva knows how challenging it can be to get gender-affirming care.

00:07The 19-year-old started accessing the Women's and Children's Hospital's gender diversity

00:12service six years ago.

00:14I needed a recommendation from two psychiatrists before I could start on oestrogen and it was

00:20a pretty tough process for me.

00:24There was some pretty long waits between appointments.

00:28Rowan says while mental health support is important, so too is timely treatment.

00:34There is a psychiatrist shortage and only some of the psychiatrists are even willing

00:37to prescribe this sort of care.

00:40In South Australia, children must be assessed by a psychiatrist before being prescribed

00:45gender-affirming treatment.

00:46But that wasn't the case for 22 children in 2023 and 2024.

00:52The model of care when it was introduced in September 2023 was not implemented properly

00:59and we acknowledge that gap.

01:01The hospital says the children were assessed by senior mental health clinicians and their

01:06diagnoses were confirmed retrospectively by psychiatrists.

01:10CEO Rebecca Graham has now ordered a review into the gender diversity service to find

01:16out if it's fully complying with state guidelines.

01:19The sorts of things that it's doing is looking at the flow of families going through the

01:25service, it is looking at the timeliness, the efficiency.

01:28Well I think it is appropriate that Rebecca Graham has issued that review to make sure

01:33that those guidelines are being followed.

01:36Rowan says it's the guidelines, not the service, that needs to be scrutinised.

01:41If there should be any review, it should be on how the care that trans youth are receiving

01:48at the moment is being hindered by our current state-wide policy.

01:52We certainly agree with the model of care and we will be implementing, we have implemented

01:57the model of care.

01:59The review is expected to be complete within months.

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