Thread by @hannahsbee

THREAD: New information has emerged on details of allegations being made in legal action being taken against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust by its own Safeguarding Children Lead.

In June @BBCNewsnight broadcast concerns raised by Gender Identity Development Service staff during an official review of the service by the medical director of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
WATCH IN FULL: bbc.in/2NaXIx1
READ: bbc.in/3hSuH7A

We (@deb_cohen and I) had exclusive sight of several official transcripts of interviews that took place between front-line staff and the Trust’s medical director. The findings of the review were published in Spring 2019.

In their interviews, several staff claimed that they had been discouraged from seeking advice from the Trust’s Safeguarding Children Lead, Sonia Appleby, when they had concerns about some of the children they were seeing at GIDS.

We were told that if clinicians did approach Sonia Appleby, they felt she understood the complexity of the GIDS work and were supported by her.

Sonia Appleby’s solicitor told us that she could not comment on the claims, as she has begun legal proceedings against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in November 2019.

A spokesperson for the Trust told BBC Newsnight that ‘GIDS is a safe and caring service which supports a wide range of children' and that ‘[we] strongly refute the allegations put to us by Newsnight.’

More details have now emerged about Sonia Appleby’s case. Mrs Appleby has said that she ‘lodged a whistle-blowing claim in November 2019 at the Central London Employment Tribunal.’

‘In my claim, I allege that because I made "protected disclosures" to my line manager regarding concerns raised by GIDS staff ( that the health or safety of patients was being, had been or was likely to be endangered), I was subjected to detriments,’ she says.

Sonia Appleby outlines three of the detriments that she alleges:
1) “The Tavistock misused its own procedures to besmirch me and therefore jeopardize the role of safeguarding within the Trust;

2) “There was an unwritten but mandated directive from the Tavistock management that safeguarding concerns should not be brought to my attention despite being the Trust Safeguarding Children Lead”
3) “Clinicians were discouraged from reporting safeguarding concerns to me.”

Mrs Appleby said that she had ‘always supported the availability of a gender identity service for children, adolescents, adults and their families, and staff who deliver these services.’

She added, ‘I am supportive of the transgender community and their right to seek services that are both supportive and safe.’

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust strongly denies the allegations made by the claimant and will be robustly defending the matter through the employment tribunal process.”

“Safeguarding is of the utmost importance to the Trust and this commitment is reflected in the practice of all our staff,” they continued.

“In August 2018 a safeguarding lead was created specifically for GIDS to reflect the growth in the service. This role fits within the existing safeguarding pathway and procedures across the Trust and has been replicated in other services across the Trust…”

“Clinical scenarios including safeguarding issues that were raised during the GIDS review were fully explored and issues identified were further investigated and, where appropriate, addressed in the review's recommendations.”