New details have emerged about the allegations in Cairns that prompted Health Minister Tim Nicholls to “pause,” on safety grounds, the provision of hormone therapy to new young patients with gender dysphoria.
In January, Nicholls declared the Cairns Sexual Health Service had delivered “apparently unauthorised” services to 42 paediatric patients, 17 of whom were prescribed stage 1 or stage 2 hormone therapy, leaving unresolved questions about parental consent and regulatory requirements.
Declaring the allegations serious enough to warrant an immediate ban on hormone therapy for new patients in the public sector, Nicholls also announced a review of the evidence base that he said would take 10 months to complete once a reviewer had been appointed.
However, Nicholls has yet to appoint a reviewer, or consult on the final terms of reference. His office has declined to answer questions about the timing.
Brisbane Times applied for access to the preliminary review under the Right to Information Act. The only document identified, and partly released, was an undated three-page risk assessment.
The assessment focused on the 17 patients who were receiving hormone therapy at the time. It found the health service had consent forms from both parents for each of six patients, from one parent for each of seven patients, and medical records indicating “parental awareness and consent” for two patients where forms could not be located.
For the remaining two patients, there was “no indication of parental awareness or consent” and, the assessment noted separately, “a complaint involving two families … regarding parental engagement in the consent process”.
Source: Three-page document behind LNP government’s gender therapy crackdown