Children as young as 16 years old will still be provided with cross-sex hormones by England’s National Health Service despite announcing a ban on puberty-blocking drugs for children.
Under new guidance from NHS England, gender-affirming hormones (GAH) will be made available to “young people with continuing gender incongruence [or] gender dysphoria from around their 16th birthday”.
The life-altering drugs will be offered under the Children and Young People Gender Service despite the health service announcing last week the ban on giving children under the age of 18 puberty blockers unless they are a part of a clinical trial.
According to The Telegraph, the guidance states that NHS staff “ensure that the individual understands that there is limited clinical evidence on the effects and harms of prescribing GAH treatment below their 16th birthday; and also that GAH treatment is a significant decision with long term indications”.
The move was criticised by former Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price, who said: “This kind of hormone treatment causes permanent loss of sexual function. It should never be administered to children for the purposes of gender reassignment.
“There are brave voices who have spoken openly about the permanent effects of cross-sex hormones. Their experience is enough to ban these treatments for anyone before the age of majority.
“No child can give informed consent to this treatment.”
The move from the state-owned health service comes ahead of the publication of an independent review from Dr Hilary Cass, which, based on previous releases, is expected to be deeply critical of medical practices surrounding transgenderism in the UK.
A previous report from Cass precipitated the decision to close down the Tavistock gender identity clinic, which has served as the UK’s main facility providing so-called gender transition therapy for children. NHS said that Tavistock will be closed down this year, after the review found that the clinic was “not safe” for children.
Yet, although the doors of Tavistock are set to be closed, the NHS has decided to continue transgender treatements for children at regional centres throughout the country. As opposed to Tavistock, the regional centres will be run by doctors rather than therapists and will be instructed to consider the impact of such treatments on other than on the mental health of the child.
Irish journalist and member of the women’s rights group Sex Matters, Helen Joyce commented: “This disturbing development demonstrates that winning back evidence-based medicine is going to be a fight.
“One of the most worrying aspects is that children who are self-harming or experiencing psychotic episodes or drug addiction will still be eligible for hormone treatment.
“The NHS must urgently rethink before any more children are harmed by medical practices that are driven by ideology rather than evidence of clinical benefit.”
An NHS England spokesman said: “This update of the national clinical policy for gender-affirming hormones as an option for young people around 16 with continuing gender incongruence or gender dysphoria continues to be subject to strict eligibility and readiness, and now includes assessment by a national specialist multi-disciplinary team to ensure clinical consensus is reached before life-changing medical treatment is initiated.”