Probe into child NHS hormone treatment

SAJID Javid is launching a review into how the NHS gives gender hormone treatment to children.

The Health Secretary hopes it will lead to an overhaul of how the Health Service treats under-18s who question their gender identity.

Critics accuse specialist NHS gender services of being too willing to give puberty blockers, hormones to stop such things as breasts or facial hair developing.

Mr Javid told MPs last week that NHS gender services for children were ‘bordering on ideological’.

A report last month by Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said children were being affected by a lack of expert agreement over gender dysphoria – a person’s belief that their sex is at odds with their gender identity.

A source close to Mr Javid told The Times that the findings were ‘deeply concerning’, adding: ‘It’s clear... we’re failing children.

‘This has been a growing issue for years and it’s clear we’re not taking this seriously enough.’

Mr Javid is understood to be preparing legal changes to give Dr Cass access to NHS records of children treated by the service to see how many regret having hormone treatment.

Meanwhile, figures reveal the NHS budget for transgender operations has risen by more than a third in a year to £19million.

The NHS carries out more than 1,000 sex-changes a year, removing and creating penises and vaginas for people with gender dysphoria.

Health Minister Lord Kamall said in 2020-21 the cost was up by 38 per cent from £13.8million.