Swift swoops for BBC journalist Barnes' 'gripping' Tavistock gender service investigation

Swift Press has acquired Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children by BBC "Newsnight" journalist Hannah Barnes.

Publisher Mark Richards bought world English rights from Toby Mundy at Aevitas Creative Management UK. Publication is slated for spring 2023.

The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), based at the Tavistock and Portman Trust in London, was initially launched to provide talking therapies to young people who were questioning their gender identity. The NHS announced recently that the clinic will close in spring next year.

"In the last decade the GIDS came to refer more than 1,000 children, for medication to block puberty," the synopsis reads. "In the same period, the number of referrals exploded, increasing 30-fold, while the profile of the patients shifted from largely pre-pubescent boys to mostly adolescent girls, who were often contending with other difficulties.

"Time to Think draws upon thousands of pages of documents, including internal emails and unpublished reports, and over a hundred hours of personal testimonies, to tell the inside story. Why had the patients changed so dramatically? Were all these distressed young people actually best served by taking puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones? While some young people appeared to thrive after taking the blocker, many seemed to become worse. Was there enough clinical evidence to justify such profound medical interventions in the lives of young people who had so much else to contend with?"

Barnes said: "The more I learned while researching and reporting for the BBC, the more I felt compelled to tell this story. I have forensically examined internal documents and sought out data that GIDS has not openly shared. While the work of the service was well-intentioned, some aspects of its care are found to be very much wanting. I have been shocked, upset even, by some of what I have heard about very vulnerable young people.

"I’ve spoken with dozens of clinicians who, between them, have worked with thousands of gender non-conforming young people. The same concerns were raised repeatedly by staff working at different points in time, at different locations, and who had never met. But still nothing changed. GIDS was inadequately supported by the wider Tavistock Trust and its commissioners at NHS England, but certainly missed opportunities to pause, reflect and do things differently."

Richards called it "deeply researched and horrifyingly gripping". He said: "Time to Think is the definitive account of the decade-long medical scandal that has unfolded at the Tavistock’s gender identity development service for children, by the journalist who has done more than anyone to uncover the story."