Hannah Barnes

“However, whilst staff demonstrated their work on helping young people to understand information about treatment, there were very few details on the records of staff engaging in the more difficult task of supporting young people weigh-up the foreseeable risks and consequences”22/

GIDS carried out audits of compliance with their procedure for consent and capacity in March and September 2020. The March audit reviewed 10 records of young people referred for hormone blockers: “only three contained a completed consent form and checklist for referral.” 23/

CQC: “we found no evidence that staff had completed an assessment after the documentation was found to be missing...this meant that staff had still not assessed the capacity and competency of young people receiving treatment, despite being aware that they had not done so.” 24/

The September audit showed improvement, and found that only three out of 29 referrals to endocrinology did not have a complete set of referral documents. 25/

‘Is the service responsive?’ Rating = Inadequate. The CQC noted that over 4,600 young people were on the GIDS waiting list, with some waiting over two years for their first appointment. The regulator insisted waiting times and the service provided overall must improve. 26/

GIDS has a target waiting time of 18 weeks, but “out of 1089 patients being seen by the service, only 13% were seen within 18 weeks. In total 64% of patients waited more than 66 weeks to be seen, including 26% who waited two or more years.” 27/

‘Is the service well-led?’ Rating = Inadequate. “The service was not consistently well-led,” the CQC said. “Staff did not always feel respected, supported and valued. Some said they felt unable to raise concerns without fear of retribution.” 28/

Staff were positive & proud about working at GIDS and many loved their work. But some said "high caseloads and constant external scrutiny meant they worked under relentless pressure." While staff turnover was consistent with the ave for the trust, some still saw 24% as high 29/