GP who prescribed sex-change treatment for children cleared

A GP who ran an unregistered online gender identity clinic has been cleared of wrongly prescribing sex-change treatments to three young patients – one aged just 11.

Dr Helen Webberley, who founded GenderGP with her husband Dr Michael Webberley, was accused of failing to provide good clinical care to the patients, who all underwent femaleto-male transitioning treatment.

On Friday, a long-running Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service fitnessto-practise hearing, which began last July, cleared the 52-year-old of the majority of the 29 charges she faced.

Dr Webberley, currently barred from practising, was accused of failing to follow guidelines and acting beyond the limits of her competence as a GP with a special interest in gender dysphoria.

Dr Webberley was accused of giving testosterone to one patient – a 12-yearold known as Patient A – when it was “not appropriate for use” at that age.

A 17-year-old patient – known as Patient B – was given testosterone and allegedly “inappropriately prescribed” Gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnHRa), or puberty blockers.

A third patient – an 11-year-old known as Patient C who was also given testosterone – received GnHRA when Dr Webberley was alleged to have lacked sufficient training, qualifications and experience and failed to discuss the risks of treatment, including the risk to the patient’s fertility.

She was cleared of all those allegations but faced others of failing to obtain adequate medical histories and to arrange adequate physical and psychological assessments.

The tribunal found her guilty of failing to provide follow-up care to Patient A and of not conducting adequate assessments of Patients B and C.

Dr Webberley had already admitted several charges relating to her conviction in October 2018 for illegally running an unregistered clinic – Online GP Services Ltd – while treating 1,600 transgender patients and genderdysphoric children from her home in Wales.

Mid Wales magistrates’ court heard she gave hormones to children as young as 12 after the youngsters were denied treatment on the NHS.

Dr Webberley, from Abergavenny, was later fined £12,000 and chose to operate her Gender GP clinic from Spain.