A deeply reported, scrupulously non-judgmental account of the collapse of the NHS service, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with former clinicians and patients. It is also a jaw-dropping insight into failure: failure of leadership, of child safeguarding and of the NHS’ – Sunday Times So I don't use that phrase, for the very reason I don't think we know yet. I think we know that some people say they've been helped by GIDS, and some of those stories are in the book. And we also know that some people have been harmed by GIDS, and some of those stories are in the book as well. And I think what we don't know yet is the numbers on either side, because we don't have that data. GIDS haven't been collecting data on outcomes. Ever. They've been running since 1989. So we don't know. And hopefully, Dr Cass and her team can start to answer some of those questions. So I personally don't describe it in those terms. But I think it's very striking that a number of the clinicians who were there and were trying to help these young people fear that it may end up being a serious medical scandal because of their experiences. But I think at the moment, everybody would like some certainty, but I don't think we have it. Many revelations in the book were already in the public domain, although more effective when compiled into one engaging volume. Problems at GIDS were reported to include staff complaints of homophobia being minimised, alongside instances of exceptionally vulnerable children with issues like depression, autism, sexual abuse, poverty or trauma being approved for drug treatment with little assessment and their other needs going unmet. GIDS were also reported not to have substantially changed their clinical practices despite documented shortcomings, and not to have collected long-term data on how their young patients were faring with their multiple difficulties. The book is not transphobic. At no point does Barnes question that many people are happier being trans and that those people should be treated well. Additionally, only since 2018 has modern research with all the capabilities it has today – considered this a possibility. SEE here Maternal DES Exposure and Intersex Development in Males – Hormones Matter and here – Geneticists make a new discovery about how a baby’s sex is determined — ScienceDaily.

book by Hannah Barnes: ‘Time to Think: The Inside Review of book by Hannah Barnes: ‘Time to Think: The Inside

Will Lloyd of the New Statesman called it "as scrupulous as journalism can be" and noted "[t]hough pundits will use it as fuel for columns, Time to Think is no anti-trans polemic ". [11] Katy Hayes of the Irish Independent called the book "meticulously academic, thoroughly footnoted and referenced", though it is "a dense, clotted read". Hayes notes that interviews were "almost exclusively" with former GIDS employees who "dissented" from the direction the leadership took. Therefore, while "Barnes has her well-argued position, and the questions she raises are legitimate", "the result makes the book feel very one-sided. All the clinicians talk about how they harmed children. There is very little mention of how any clinician might have ever helped anyone." Hayes complains that the "book occasionally slides into innuendo" (such as about funding), which Hayes says is "a pity, because they make Barnes sound biased", and that "the overall tone of the book is so hostile that it is likely to become another weapon in the unfortunately loud and bitter war over this subject." [10] Yeah. And Sonia had not spoken before to anybody, so I was very grateful to her. Well, this was another aspect, if you like, of exceptionalism within GIDS. So you had clinicians saying what clinical concerns were not being reacted to in the same way that you'd expect in other services. And clinicians say safeguarding concerns weren't responded to in the same way that you would expect in other services dealing with children either. They say that in all other services they worked in if you were concerned, then you referred on, that's what you did. It didn't matter if that concern was true or not, because often you don't know. But you refer on. And they said that that didn't happen in GIDS, or not to the same level.In 1994 GIDS became part of The “Tavi” and by 2009 had a new director, Dr Polly Carmichael. Yet by July 2022, following Dr Hilary Cass’s report, GIDS was deemed neither a safe nor viable option for young people with gender-related stress and it was closed down. Cooke, Rachel (19 Feb 2023). "Time to Think by Hannah Barnes review – what went wrong at Gids?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on Feb 19, 2023. Hannah Barnes sensibly doesn’t get in to the wider political debates on this issue; she restricts herself to factual evidence and testimony from those who were actually there, and the book is the more powerful for that. The facts speak for themselves; Barnes leaves it to the reader to gasp in horror and make the judgments and analysis for themselves.

Hannah Barnes: I told the truth about what was going on at Hannah Barnes: I told the truth about what was going on at

When one of the leaders of a service that helps children to access powerful, life-changing drugs comments that what they are doing is “mad”, there is clearly a very big problem.”FiLiA: Yeah, that was a line that actually I wrote down because I thought it was such a striking line from one who's working within the medical sphere to even be contemplating it like that. Because obviously from an outsider's perspective, you want to just be able to say, well, of course, you're always going to put the patients first. This shouldn't even be a question. But then it comes to those sorts of human factors and the relationships. I think you at one point characterise the feeling of being within GIDS as being almost like a start-up. The trans rights group Mermaids is described as having put some pressure on GIDS and at times to have had a say in hiring decisions.