TRANS HEALTHCARE AND a dearth of services for trans people have been in the news lately on the back of a major review of UK services.

There have been three broad areas of discussion: the culture war around the concept of gender; the medical aspect of transitioning, particularly in relation to children; and what happened at Tavistock.

Tavistock is how England’s Gender Identity Development Service was known – and problems emerged after whistleblowers began to speak up about their concerns.

The service itself was absolutely stretched – long waiting lists meant that many of its patients were arriving with acute levels of distress after years of not being seen by specialist medical teams.

That was six years ago – since then, Dr Hillary Cass was asked to undertake a full review of the UK’s gender services.

On this episode of The Explainer, the team looks at the review’s final report in the context of both the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Assistant News Editor Valerie Flynn joins us and explores its findings – and with the care it needs, as it is vulnerable children at the heart of this healthcare story.

What did the report say about treatment options like puberty blockers? What type of overhaul of the services did it recommend? And what does it mean for Ireland?