Disgraced GP suspended for just two months after endangering gender-confused kids

A GP who ran an unlicensed transgender clinic for children has been found guilty of “serious misconduct” but only suspended from practice for two months.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel found that Dr Helen Webberley had put three children at “unwarranted risk of harm”, but accepted she would implement changes on return to practice.

The tribunal reported that the GP did not follow up on two patients aged twelve and 17 who had been prescribed testosterone, and that she did not warn an eleven-year-old of infertility risks associated with puberty-blocking drugs.

Safeguards

In 2018, the General Medical Council banned Webberley from working in the UK after she was found guilty of running her illegal online clinic from her home in Wales.

After she was suspended, Webberley moved GenderGP overseas, where it continues to bypass regulatory safeguards to dispense puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.

Earlier this year, the organisation Health Talk published a website which promoted trans-affirming clinics to people in the UK, reportedly including GenderGP.

Health Talk’s website is endorsed by the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. According to The Critic, it does not mention that GenderGP is based overseas or Webberley’s disciplinary history. The National Institute for Health Research donated £700,000 to Health Talk’s research in total.

Misconduct

In May, Webberley’s husband, a consultant physician, was struck off for “wide ranging and sustained” misconduct after prescribing drugs to gender-confused patients without adequate assessment.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel proved a number of charges against Dr Michael Webberley, including seven cases between February 2017 and June 2019 where puberty blockers and hormone treatments were prescribed without following clinical practice.

He also dispensed treatments via GenderGP which the tribunal concluded was “motivated by efforts to avoid the regulatory framework of the UK”.