On Friday, NHS Wales confirmed they had cancelled all scheduled surgeries and paused all surgery referrals made by the Welsh Gender Service, pending an investigation. I speculated this might be about to happen in a blog post I published earlier the same day. Within a few hours that speculation had been confirmed to me and Hugo Daniel at the Sunday Times, allowing us to publish the story on Saturday morning.
Yesterday afternoon, the trans activist group Bash Back produced a seven page statement on X and BlueSky. Bash Back said the decision to cancel surgeries “will kill” and that the decision to pause surgeries pending an investigation will drive patients into “worse mental health and suicidality”.
Despite acknowledging the Welsh Gender Care System “is not perfect”, Bash Back think it is “one of the best in the UK, and delivered for trans people by collaborating with the community and with GP surgeries”.
Back Back believe the reason for the pause in surgeries is down to “the Welsh Tories” who have been “whipped into a frenzy by a TERF blogger and Murdoch rag ‘The Times’, which claimed that Wales having higher surgery referral rates than England somehow proves that harm is done”.
This is hyperbole. The Sunday Times did not describe the startling statistical disparities I highlighted earlier this year as proof of anything. Neither did I.
Solidarity, Comrade
The ability to access trans “healthcare” on the NHS apparently needs to be taken from those with their hands on the levers of power, with Bash Back telling their followers “We can’t afford to keep fighting within the rules of the system. We will always be disadvantaged as a working-class community fighting billionaires and the patriarchal state.”
The answer appears to be vandalism and/or violence or possibly something else. “We will only gain concessions through direct action”, says the Bash Back statement. “We must have our own organisations, our own healthcare systems and strong mutual aid networks.”
The statement finishes with the threat “To the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee: Expect us”.
At the time of publishing, the threat remained live on X and BlueSky.
Here the statement in full:
I have contacted NHS Wales seeking a response to Bash Back’s post and asking what steps they might be taking to protect their staff. If I get a response I will post it.
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