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.
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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.