Gender Identity Development Service

The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) is for children and young people, and their families, who experience difficulties in the development of their gender identity. It's a national specialised service, based in London and Leeds, and is the only one of its kind in Great Britain.

What we do 

At Leeds Children’s Hospital we are proud to support children, young people and their families on this journey and our team of specialist nurses and endocrinologists - experts in hormones - work closely with them to help them explore their feelings and the options available.

Every patient is different and not everyone will have the same feelings, worries or concerns. Their care also differs too - some patients need time to think and explore their feelings, others may opt to live as their identified gender and some may go on to have medical treatment. What’s important is that we support and care for these young people, help them cope with and reduce any distress they are feeling and help them to live the life they want.

We recognise how complex ideas around gender can be and that there is a huge range of human diversity in how people feel about and express their gender. Young people who are developing an understanding of their own gender that is different from what everyone had first expected can sometimes find things very tough.

Our team work very closely with young people, their families and their key support workers to help in the development of a more settled and confident gender identity so that they can live their best lives

Find out more

Leeds Children's Hospital is part of a national GIDS service. You can read more about the national GIDS service including the physical interventions provided at Leeds Children's Hospital on the GIDS website: gids.nhs.uk.