Private clinicians who supply trans drugs to under-16s could be ‘struck off’

The Health Secretary has announced a crackdown on private clinics that attempt to prescribe puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to under-16s.

In a ministerial statement, Victoria Atkins told MPs that any clinic that contravenes the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) regulations could lose its licence and have its clinicians “struck off”. In addition, she pledged to “curtail any loopholes” enabling online practices that are not registered in the UK to issue prescriptions.

From now on, the CQC will ask new care providers if their practices “respect” the Cass Review’s final report, which concluded that giving trans drugs to children is based on “remarkably weak evidence”.

‘Irreversible path’

Atkins said the increasing numbers of children referred to the Tavistock clinic was driven by a “myth” that living as the opposite sex would “solve their feelings of unease, discomfort or distress”, and they were pushed down an “irreversible path: blocking puberty, then prescribing cross-sex hormones, and on to surgery as an adult”.

She warned: “It should concern every single Member of this House that part of our public space — the NHS — was overtaken by a culture of secrecy and ideology that was allowed to trump evidence and safety.”

“I will work with NHS England to root out the ideology that has caused so much unnecessary harm, to support those who have already received life-altering treatment, to give the next generation access to holistic care, and to protect our children’s futures. Anything less would be neglecting our duty to the next generation.”

NHS review

Last week, the NHS agreed to review the transgender procedures it provides for both children and adults following the Cass Review’s final report.

In a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, NHS England’s National Director for Specialised Commissioning, John Stewart, said it will launch an evidence review and public consultation on cross-sex hormones for young people after it recently updated its policy to continue 16-year-olds’ access to the drugs.