Latest news with #crossSexHormones
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.'
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Government considers widening ban on puberty blockers for children to include cross-sex hormones used for gender transition
Wes Streeting is considering extending the ban on puberty blockers for under-18s to include controversial cross-sex hormones, the High Court has heard. It came as judges today rejected a legal challenge that would have forced the Health Secretary to include the gender drugs in the ban over concerns about their safety. Lawyers representing a prominent 'detranstitioner' argued that the Health Secretary's approach to banning puberty blockers for children but not cross-sex hormones is 'irrational and unlawful'. Keira Bell - who took the Tavistock gender clinic to court after she was given puberty blockers aged 16 - sought a Judicial Review against Mr Streeting and NHS England over the move to continue prescribing 'masculinising and feminising hormones'. Zoe Gannon, representing Ms Bell and two other claimants, argued that the decision-making process within the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was 'demonstrably flawed' and urged the court to allow the challenge 'in light of the risks posed to children'. However Ian Steele, representing the DHSC, told the court on Wednesday that the legal bid to extend the ban was 'premature and academic' as the use of cross-sex hormones in children is now under review. He said: 'The defendant [Mr Streeting] has instead rationally chosen to keep that possibility under review, and at his request, NHS England has established an expert working group to advise him, which is occurring in parallel with further work also being undertaken by the defendant's officials with a view to assisting his decision making. 'In light of that ongoing review, this claim is both premature and academic.' The working group is expected to report back in July. This was welcomed by Ms Bell yesterday, who said she was 'relieved' that Mr Streeting is now considering a ban, adding: 'These powerful drugs should not be given to children.' She said: 'Although the Secretary of State's decision to actively review making a ban on these drugs outside the NHS is long overdue, it is welcome that he is now taking a lead. 'The safety of vulnerable children and young people should be a first priority. It now looks like that is beginning to happen.' This came despite the High Court yesterday [WEDS] rejecting Ms Bell's challenge, with judges accepting that it would be 'premature' to allow the claim given the DHSC has established a working group to examine the use of the gender drugs. Dismissing the bid, Lady Justice Whipple, sitting with Mr Justice Johnson, said there was a need for a 'careful' approach to decision making in this area, and that is 'what the Secretary of State is doing'. She added: 'This is an immensely difficult and sensitive area of policy formation where there are strong and genuinely held views on each side of the debate and where there is no consensus.' Lady Justice Whipple also found that it was not 'unreasonable or irrational' for the Government to address the question of puberty blockers first before considering cross-sex hormones later. Paul Conrathe, a lawyer representing the claimants, told the Mail: 'Although my clients were not granted permission to bring a Judicial Review, they are delighted that the litigation has led to the Secretary of State setting up a working group to urgently review the possibility of a ban on cross-sex hormones being prescribed to children. 'This is long overdue as vulnerable children have been accessing powerful, life-changing, irreversible drugs from activist clinicians in the private sector.' It comes after the Health Secretary announced an indefinite ban on puberty blockers for under-18s in December due to the 'unacceptable safety risk' they pose. Mr Streeting said the decision had been taken following the 'scandal' of thousands of children being handed the puberty-halting medication without proof it is safe. It came after the landmark Cass Review found that children questioning their gender had been 'let down by a lack of research' and 'remarkably weak' evidence on medical interventions. Baroness Cass advised 'extreme caution' around the use of hormone treatment in under-18s and said that there should be a clear clinical rationale for not waiting until somebody reaches 18. A DHSC spokesman said: 'Children's healthcare must always be led by evidence. That is why this government is implementing the recommendations from the Cass Review and acted immediately to extend the puberty blockers ban and make it permanent. 'We are continuing our work with the NHS to reform gender services to ensure young people receive timely, holistic care and support, while reviewing the use of cross-sex hormones.'
