Representatives for NHS Scotland will participate in a UK-wide study into the use of puberty blockers as a treatment for gender dysphoria in young people.
Public health minister, Jenni Minto, confirmed the move in a statement to the Scottish Parliament as MSPs returned from the summer recess.
Ms Minto said that the Scottish Government's Chief Scientist had been in contact with the UK Department of Health and Social Care to indicate the "willingness of an NHS Scotland team -which will include the Scottish Government, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the University of Glasgow - to join the National Institute for Health and Care Research UK wide study on puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for gender dysphoria".
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A ban on prescribing puberty blockers to new patients was introduced in April this year following the publication of the Cass Review, which found that the current evidence to support their use in transgender medicine is "remarkably weak".
Review chair, Dr Hilary Cass, recommended that the treatment should be made available to under-18s in future only in the context of a clinical trial which could properly evaluate the risks and benefits.
According to data released to the Herald under freedom of information, a total of 25 children or teenagers currently under the care of the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow - Scotland's only NHS gender service for under-18s - have been prescribed hormones to block the onset of puberty.
A further 956 under-18s were on the waiting list to be seen as of the end of July - including 55 aged five to 10 - with an average waiting time to first appointment of four years and 10 months.
Activists at a Pride rally in Glasgow call for improved rights for trans people (Image: PA)
Ms Minto said she wanted to assure trans and non-binary young people in Scotland that she understood current waiting times and service changes are "worrying for you and your families".
She added that the Scottish Government had "accepted in full" the recommendations of a "milestone" report - Cass Review: Implications for Scotland Findings Report - published in July.
This was carried out by the office of the Chief Medical Officer in Scotland.
It included a recommendation that gender identity services for young people should be provided via a regional model and in "paediatric clinical settings" instead of being concentrated in an "adult sexual health" clinic, such as the Sandyford in Glasgow.
Ms Minto said the Government is "actioning this at pace" and working to "develop a sustainable longer-term model".
She noted that other recommendations have already been implemented, including an end to self-referrals.
Referrals to child and adolescent gender services can now be made only by a clinician "in line with other child or adolescent specialist services", said Ms Minto.
She also confirmed that Public Health Scotland will release its first annual data on gender identity clinics for adults and young people during the autumn, and that Glasgow University has been provided with grant funding "to establish a programme of research into the long-term health outcomes of people accessing gender identity healthcare".
The first results are expected before the end of the year.
The Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow is currently the only gender identity services clinic in Scotland for under-18s, but it shares the premises with adult sexual health services (Image: Archive)
A separate Progress Report, also published by the Scottish Government on Tuesday, highlights "significant challenges" around recruitment and retention of staff in transgender medicine.
It states that the Sandyford Young People's Gender Service has been "unable to fill several vacancies in recent years" due to the "specialist nature of the field, the politically polarised context of the work with significant media scrutiny and public exposure, as well as wider national recruitment and retention issues seen across several clinical specialities".
Ms Minto added: "I want to reiterate Scottish Government’s wider commitment to improve gender identity healthcare in Scotland for young people and adults.
"Since December 2022 the Scottish Government has invested over £4.4 million to support gender identity healthcare improvement.
"Over £3.6 million of this being allocated directly to NHS Boards providing gender identity clinics, to support them to improve service delivery.
"Independent evaluation of the impact of that investment on waiting times and quality of care is underway.
"A report will be published this winter and its findings used to support future improvement."
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