Latest news with #WellBN
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Gender treatment at Brighton GP practice under investigation
A GP practice is under investigation over concerns it may have prescribed gender-related medication to under-18s outside national clinical Sussex and NHS England is reviewing WellBN, which operates in Brighton and Hove, to assess the care of children and young people who were prescribed or supplied medication for gender Sussex said on Thursday it had launched "a rapid investigation into this activity".WellBN said it had paused all new hormone prescriptions for under-18s but it would "do our best to turn this decision around". The practice added in its statement, issued on its website in May, that it would continue to prescribe to young patients already under its care and the restriction only applies to "the initiation of new prescriptions".It said the NHS was "threatening to close us down altogether if we did not comply" and it "had to consider all 25,000 patients" registered at WellBN. NHS Sussex said the investigation followed "concerns raised about some prescribing for children and young people by WellBN in Brighton and Hove, that may fall outside of national clinical policy and guidance".It said it was working with NHS England "to determine the most appropriate care and treatment for these patients".It said: "The practice is no longer initiating prescribing of hormone medications for children and young people under 18 years for gender dysphoria."The practice will continue to provide general medical care to its patients while the investigation is carried out, and it will continue to provide gender care to adult patients who are aged 18 years and above." The NHS added it had established a helpline for under-18s receiving gender care from WellBN. Process to 'review' notes The cohort of patients whose cases are being reviewed are all aged under 18, and for whom WellBN is prescribing or arranging the supply of medication for gender dysphoria. It is thought that most of these children and young people, but not all of them, live in NHS said there would be a process to "review their notes, and consider next steps in their treatment, in line with national guidance and clinical advice".It said: "As a result of this process, there will likely be different outcomes for different patients."Some children and young people may be recommended for a transfer into specialist NHS commissioned gender services. "Some will be reviewed and supported by local Children and Young People Mental Health Services, and some will need an endocrinology (hormone) review."What happens following that review will differ for each individual and will depend on the outcome of the case note review, the person's age and medication profile." If you are affected by any of these issues, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line here. The BBC has contacted WellBN for May, the practice said: "We are sorry to be passing on this news, but rest assured we will continue to battle against this injustice."We have a strong case to present considering that bodily autonomy is one of the four pillars of modern medical ethics."
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Brighton GP practice investigated for prescribing trans hormones to children
An investigation into a GP clinic in Brighton that prescribed transgender hormones to children has been launched by the NHS. The WellBN GP practice, which runs three clinics in Sussex, was ordered by health service leaders to stop prescribing cross-sex hormones to under 18s and the NHS has now launched a 'rapid investigation'. The NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board, which oversees the region's health services, said that the actions of GPs at WellBN 'may fall outside of national clinical policy and guidance'. 'Following concerns raised about some prescribing for children and young people by WellBN in Brighton and Hove, that may fall outside of national clinical policy and guidance, we are working with NHS England and have launched a rapid investigation into this activity to determine the most appropriate care and treatment for these patients,' it said. The administration of cross-sex drugs, also known as gender-affirming hormones, involves giving hormones such as testosterone to help someone change their physical appearance. They are different to puberty blockers, which stop the onset of puberty by suppressing the release of hormones. The Cass review, led by the paediatrician Baroness Hilary Cass, said all under 18s questioning their gender should be seen by a team of experts for a range of conditions, including mental health issues and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, before any treatment is considered. 'Extreme caution' recommended The independent review concluded that medical pathways to change genders had been 'built on shaky foundations' and called for puberty blockers to be banned, citing the 'weak evidence' to support their use in this group of patients. It urged 'extreme caution' in relation to cross-sex hormones in under 18s. But WellBN continued to prescribe the drugs, claiming on its website that it would prescribe the hormones to patients with a referral to a gender identity clinic while they waited for an appointment, and that it would also arrange a referral for any patients who did not have one. The GP practice is already the subject of a legal challenge by the parents of Child O, an anonymous 16-year-old boy, who claimed their child was prescribed cross-sex hormones without having been properly assessed by a gender-identity clinic and without their knowledge. The clinic previously said it had 'fully considered and responded back to the correspondence received from the family's representatives and will engage fully on any next steps'. It also said it is 'confident that any young patients under the age of 18 are assessed in accordance with good medical practice', adding: 'Gillick competence and bodily autonomy are at the heart of all care we offer and this framework is consistently applied.' 'Trans health hub' The practice operates a 'trans health hub' and patients - of which it says around 2,000 are trans or non-binary - can receive annual check-ups with 'a supportive and affirming clinician'. It has defended its prescribing of hormones to under 18s based on an 'informed consent pathway', which it says 'sets out the risks, potential side effects and reversible and irreversible intended effects of hormone therapy'. It comes after Wes Streeting last month ordered a review into the use of cross-sex hormones in children, which could join puberty blockers in being banned for use in under 18s to treat gender dysphoria. NHS Sussex said the majority, but not all, of the children being prescribed cross-sex hormones by the clinic lived in the region and that it would be reviewing each case to consider next steps for their treatment and care. 'The cohort of patients whose cases are being reviewed are all aged under 18, and for whom WellBN is prescribing or arranging the supply of medication for gender dysphoria,' it said. 'There will be a process to review their notes, and consider next steps in their treatment, in line with national guidance and clinical advice.' Temporary pause It said there would be 'different outcomes for different patients', with some referred to specialist NHS gender services, others seen by local mental health services, while some would have their hormone treatment reviewed. WellBN revealed last week that the NHS had 'forced us to temporarily pause initiating new NHS prescriptions for gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18', including a ban on taking on prescriptions from private sector providers. It vowed to try to 'turn this decision around' and said it would be meeting with NHS Sussex. Rachel Cashman, co-founder of community group PSHE Brighton, said she welcomed the investigation, adding that parents she had spoken with had been 'concerned' about WellBN's approach to treating under 18s with gender issues for some time. ' Gender distressed children deserve the most clinically efficacious treatment,' she said. 'PSHE Brighton welcomes an investigation by NHS England into the care provided by this service'.
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
NHS orders clinic to stop prescribing cross-sex drugs to children
The NHS has ordered a GP practice to stop prescribing cross-sex hormones to children who want to change gender. WellBN GP surgeries in Brighton have flouted the Cass review's recommendations by prescribing the drugs to children, as first revealed by The Telegraph. The practice, which runs three surgeries, has been the subject of a legal challenge by the parents of Child O, an anonymous 16-year-old boy who claimed he was prescribed cross-sex hormones without having been properly assessed by a gender-identity clinic and without his parents' knowledge. WellBN said the NHS 'has forced us to temporarily pause initiating new NHS prescriptions for gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18', including a ban on taking on prescriptions from private sector providers. The administration of cross-sex drugs, also known as gender-affirming hormones, involves giving hormones such as testosterone to help someone change their physical appearance. They are different to puberty blockers, which stop the onset of puberty by suppressing the release of hormones. The Cass review, led by the paediatrician Baroness Hilary Cass, said all under-18s questioning their gender should be seen by a team of experts for a range of conditions including mental health issues and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. The independent review concluded that medical pathways to change genders had been ' built on shaky foundations ' and called for puberty blockers to be banned, citing the 'weak evidence' to support their use in this group of patients. It urged 'extreme caution' in relation to cross-sex hormones. However, WellBN GP has continued to prescribe cross-sex hormones to patients such as Child O, allegedly after minimal consultation. The practice has also allegedly continued to take on prescriptions from private providers whose checks are less robust than the NHS. The parents of Child O allege the GP had prescribed the drugs without their knowledge, in spite of him suffering from mental health issues for most of his life. They also claim that his school had facilitated his 'social transitioning', which is when someone changes their name and way they dress in alignment with their preferred gender, without pursuing medical treatments. Paul Conrathe, a senior consultant solicitor at SinclairsLaw who is representing Child O's father, said the intervention was 'long overdue'. 'This surgery has been providing a highly controversial life-altering treatment without following the recommendations of the Cass review or cautious guidance of the NHS,' he told The Telegraph. 'Patients now need to be moved into appropriate specialist treatment as soon as possible. Activist medicine should have no place within the NHS.' The practice uses an 'informed consent' model – discredited by Lady Cass's review – which gives patients, including children, information about the cross-sex drugs and side-effects to inform their decision. Critics claim this approach does not further look into possible causes to want to take cross-sex hormones or whether there are other issues, critics claim. 'Should refuse' children NHS England previously wrote to GPs telling them they 'must refuse' requests to prescribe puberty blockers because it is a criminal offence and 'should refuse' cross-sex hormone requests to children unless carefully considered. The trans health hub team at WellBN said NHS England and NHS Sussex did this 'by threatening to close us down altogether if we did not comply' in a letter addressing its patients. 'We are waiting to have a meeting with NHS Sussex to discuss this, and we will do our best to turn this decision around,' the update said. 'We will continue to prescribe to young patients who are already under WellBN's care and/or for whom we have already overtaken private prescriptions – the demand is specifically in relation to the initiation of new prescriptions.' It said it had to consider the health of its 25,000 patients, including 2,000 transgender and non-binary patients. The practice told patients they could 'still have a comprehensive trans health review' at their clinics with a 'supportive and affirming clinician'. It also said they would be able to 'discuss HRT [hormone replacement therapy] with you'. The letter was signed off 'with solidarity and rage' from the team. Stephanie Davies-Arai, the director of Transgender Trend, said there was 'a strong school-to-clinic pipeline established in Brighton'. 'Children are thoroughly indoctrinated in schools and then referred on to the WellBN clinic for hormones. The clinic has been unsafely prescribing cross-sex hormones to minors in breach of the Cass review recommendations and NHS guidelines for some time,' she said. 'NHS England should step in much earlier to prevent these ideological practitioners from harming children.' Keith Jordan, the co-founder of Our Duty, a support and advocacy group for parents with gender-questioning children, welcomed 'the increased NHS scrutiny of those prescribing cross-sex hormones to adolescents'. 'Clinics that provide treatments based on ideology and not clinical need require closing down. We maintain that young people cannot provide truly informed consent for such irreversible interventions due to their developmental stage and the complexity of long-term consequences,' he said. Lasting effects Last week, the Government announced that it was launching a review into the prescription of cross-sex drugs following the threat of a judicial review. Experts will analyse the available evidence and recommend a decision in July, officials said, raising the prospect that the drugs could be outlawed for children in the UK, like puberty blockers. It is understood two clinical reports led by experts in Sweden and Finland caused Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, to order the review, according to a report in The New Statesman. The new evidence specifically raised concerns about the impact of starting cross-sex hormones under the age of 18, finding that years of treatment 'will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease', stroke, 'decrease fertility, impair liver function and increase the risk of cancer'. An NHS spokesman said: 'NHS England and Sussex Integrated Care Board have jointly acted in response to concerns about the inappropriate prescribing of hormone treatment to children and young people. 'The NHS clinical policy for masculinising or feminising hormones follows the recommendations from the independent Cass review that these hormones should only be prescribed with extreme caution from the age of 16.'
