NHS could be BANNED from giving puberty blockers to kids by next PM

NHS could be BANNED from giving puberty blockers to under 18s by the next prime minister after Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak both pledge crackdowns amid fears children are being ‘rushed’ into changing gender

  • Both questioned current system after a controversial clinic revealed it will close 
  • Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust will be replaced by regional centres
  • The clinic has been accused of rushing children onto puberty blocking drugs 

The NHS could be barred from giving under 18s puberty blocking drugs after both candidates to be the next prime minister said that children should not be ‘rushed’ into making irreversible decisions.  

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak both questioned the current system after a controversial transgender clinic revealed it will close after a damning report found it was ‘not safe’ for children.

The gender identity service at Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust will be replaced by regional centres at existing children’s hospitals, which will provide more holistic care with ‘strong links to mental health services’.

The clinic has been accused of rushing children onto puberty blocking drugs by former patients who feel they weren’t challenged enough. 

Last night, Ms Truss told the Telegraph: ‘I believe passionately that adults should have the freedom to lead their lives as they see fit, but it is very important that while young people are still developing their decision-making capabilities that we protect them from long-term harm.

‘We have a responsibility to those under 18 to shield them from irreversible decisions. As prime minister, I would review access to puberty blockers to ensure we are maintaining the right checks and balances in the system to protect our young people.’

And Mr Sunak made a similar pledge, saying: ‘This review has shone a light on some very serious issues. As a father of two children, I know there are immense pressures on young people, and I am instinctively cautious about children undertaking life-changing treatment. When clinicians are raising concerns and young people are saying they felt harried into treatment, we must listen.’

Last night, Ms Truss told the Telegraph: ‘I believe passionately that adults should have the freedom to lead their lives as they see fit, but it is very important that while young people are still developing their decision-making capabilities that we protect them from long-term harm.

And Mr Sunak made a similar pledge, saying: ‘This review has shone a light on some very serious issues. As a father of two children, I know there are immense pressures on young people, and I am instinctively cautious about children undertaking life-changing treatment’

An ongoing review of Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic accused it of rushing children into life-altering treatment on puberty blockers.

Keira Bell, 25, (pictured outside the Royal Courts of Justice in 2020) launched a lawsuit against Tavistock – the NHS’ only child gender clinic – which she said rushed her into taking drugs

Number of trans people receiving NHS treatment rises 75% in five years 

The number of adults in the UK being treated for gender dysphoria on the NHS has risen 75 per cent in five years, MailOnline can reveal.

Recent figures for 2021 show more than 11,000 patients received care for the condition that causes sufferers to feel they were born the wrong gender.

This is 74 per cent more compared to the 6,371 patients being treated in 2016.

A gender dysphoria diagnosis is the first step to getting prescribed cross-sex hormone therapies that help trans people develop the characteristics of their preferred gender. 

MailOnline complied the data on gender dysphoria based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to 12 NHS gender clinics in the UK.

Of these, 11 provided data on their patient numbers stretching back to 2016, or to when they first opened.

Only four of the services were able to provide the number of patients prescribed oestrogen as part of their treatment, meaning the total is likely higher.

Overall there were 11,085 gender dysphoria patients being treated in 2021/22, compared to 6,371 in 2016/17.

Of the 2021 patients 1,592 were prescribed oestrogen.

Mr Sunak’s spokesman adeed: ‘Rishi believes that all children who are questioning their gender should have the time, space and proper support they need to consider their feelings.

‘Children should not be rushed down irreversible medical pathways and under-18s should be protected from life-altering treatments.’

An ongoing review led by senior paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, warned the gender clinic was ‘not a safe or viable long-term option’.

She found other mental health issues were ‘overshadowed’ in favour of gender identity issues when children were referred to Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). 

Dr Cass has called for ‘rapid’ research on the use of the drugs after she found ‘insufficient evidence’ on their benefits.

NHS England said it would set up two new centres run by specialist children’s hospitals in London and the North West. They will take responsibility for all of Tavistock child trans patients and waiting lists with the aim to shut down the clinic by next spring.

The controversial clinic has treated at least 9,000 children for gender dysphoria since it opened in 1989.  

The Cass review was commissioned by NHS England in 2020 amid concerns there was ‘scarce and inconclusive evidence to support clinical decision making’.

GIDS is the sole provider of gender dysphoria and gender identity services for children and young people across the whole of the UK.

There have also been concerns about the sharp rise in referrals to GIDS. There were more than 5,000 referrals being made in the last year, compared to just a few hundred 10 years ago.

The closure of the service for young people at Tavistock is likely to be seen as a victory by campaigners who have previously accused GIDS of rushing children onto puberty blocking drugs. 

Former patient Keira Bell took the clinic to the High Court, claiming that she had not been challenged enough when she was prescribed the drugs at age 16.

In a letter to NHS England expressing concern over the use of these drugs, Dr Cass said: ‘Staff should maintain a broad clinical perspective in order to embed the care of children and young people with gender uncertainty within a broader child and adolescent health context.’   

As GIDS prepares to shuts its doors, NHS England will at first establish two other services for children and young people with gender dysphoria, with one in London and one in the North West.

The London service will be run by a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

In the North West, the service will be a partnership between Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

After these initial two, a further six or seven similar services could be opened in other parts of the country.  

Patients currently being treated at GIDS will continue to be treated by the service before their care is transferred to the new operators early next year. 

GIDS has said there are currently no plans to change access to puberty blockers until the research programme proposed by Dr Cass is designed. 

Dr Cass, an ex-president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, launched her review of Tavistock to probe several issues affecting the clinic. 

The first of these was the sheer number of referrals, which reached more than 5,000 in 2021/22 – climbing from just 250 in 2011/12. 

Another issue was the nature of the cases, particularly among those in their early teens, had also changed, with the majority switching from ‘birth-registered males’ to ‘birth-registered females’.

There were also concerns a ‘significant number’ of children were presenting with neurodiversity and other mental health needs and ‘risky behaviours’, which needed to be looked into deeper before setting them on the path of transitioning. 

The report reads: ‘This has led to a lack of clinical consensus and polarised opinion on what the best model of care for children and young people experiencing gender incongruence and dysphoria should be; and a lack of evidence to support families in making informed decisions about interventions that may have life-long consequences.

‘This has contributed to the current service being unable to meet the scale of rising demand.’

In a letter to NHS England, Dr Cass also called for more research into the effects of puberty blockers on a young person’s brain development. 

She wrote:  ‘A further concern is that adolescent sex hormone surges may trigger the opening of a critical period for experience-dependent rewiring of neural circuits underlying executive function (i.e. maturation of the part of the brain concerned with planning, decision making and judgement). 

‘If this is the case, brain maturation may be temporarily or permanently disrupted by puberty blockers, which could have significant impact on the ability to make complex risk-laden decisions, as well as possible longer-term neuropsychological consequences. 

‘To date, there has been very limited research on the short-, medium- or longer-term impact of puberty blockers on neurocognitive development.’ 

She added: ‘I would suggest that consideration is given to the rapid establishment of the necessary research infrastructure to prospectively enroll young people being considered for hormone treatment into a formal research programme with adequate follow up into adulthood, with a more immediate focus on the questions regarding puberty blockers.’ 

In her interim report in March, Dr Cass said: ‘It has become increasingly clear that a single specialist provider model is not a safe or viable long-term option in view of concerns about lack of peer review and the ability to respond to the increasing demand.’

A spokesperson for GIDS said: ‘The trust supports the need to establish a more sustainable model for the care of this group of patients given the marked growth in referrals.’

‘The expertise that resides within the current GIDS service will be critical to the successful formation of these early adopter services and providing continuity in patient care.

‘We will work closely with partners and commissioners to ensure a smooth transition to the new model of delivery.’

They also added the team at GIDS were extremely proud of their work despite the ‘intense scrutiny’ they had been under.   

‘Over the last couple of years, our staff in GIDS have worked tirelessly and under intense scrutiny in a difficult climate.

‘We are proud of them and thankful for their unrelenting patient focus and extraordinary efforts.’

It  follows an announcement last month that every child treated for gender dysphoria in the last decade will have their medical records scrutinised to see if NHS care is causing them more harm than good.

Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid changed the law to allow researchers to study data on about 9,000 adolescents given counselling or drugs for the condition.

Mr Javid said he wanted to know whether the treatment improves these children’s lives or leads to further problems or regrets.

It comes after a British man who had his genitals removed during gender reassignment surgery revealed he is suing the NHS over the operation.

Ritchie Herron, 35, claims doctors did not warn him of the drastic outcome of the body-altering surgery which has left him infertile, incontinent and feeling like a ‘sexual eunuch’. 

It is thought to be the first medical negligence case over NHS transgender care in this country. The NHS trust involved has not been named. 

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