Landmark decision sees NHS ban child puberty blockers at gender clinics
NHS clinics will be banned from prescribing puberty blockers to children who think they are transgender, amid safety concerns over the powerful drugs.
The Government last night described the new NHS England policy as a ‘landmark decision’ that will ensure care is in the ‘best interest of the child’.
Puberty blockers pause the physical changes that occur in teenagers, such as breast development, menstruation and facial hair. From April 1 they will be available only as part of clinical research tristated, als – but as no trials have yet been approved it effectively creates a blanket ban.
The NHS policy document states: ‘There is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty- suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available.’
Maya Forstater, executive director of gender campaign group Sex Matters, said: ‘This a momentous development in the course correction of NHS England’s approach to treating childhood gender distress. The significance of the statement that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers cannot be overthere given the success that activist lobby groups have had in portraying them as a harmless and reversible treatment.’
However, Mermaids, a transgender youth support charity, described the move as ‘ deeply disappointing, and a further restriction of support offered to trans children and young people through the NHS’.
The decision follows a public consultation and comes after NHS England commissioned an independent review of gender identity services for under 18s.
That review, led by Dr Hilary Cass, followed a sharp rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, a specialist mental health unit in London which had come under repeated scrutiny for prescribing puberty blockers to children. In 2021/22 were more than 5,000 referrals to Gids, compared with less than 250 a decade earlier.
In February 2022, Dr Cass published her interim report saying there was a need to move away from one unit and pointed to a lack of long-term evidence and data collection on what happens to children and young people who are prescribed the drugs. The Gids clinic is now due to close at the end of this month.
Health minister Maria Caulfield said last night: ‘Children’s safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS.
‘Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child.’
Following the Gids closure, two new NHS services will open in early April, situated in London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. A further six are expected to open within the next two years.
Fewer than 100 young people are currently on puberty blockers and they will be able to continue their treatment.
Former prime minister Liz Truss, whose Health and Equality Acts Bill includes a ban on the prescription of body-altering hormones to children questioning their sex, said: ‘I urge the Government to back my Bill, which will reinforce this in law and also prevent these drugs being supplied privately.’
‘Safety is paramount’