Health secretary Wes Streeting has said the ban on providing puberty blockers to under-18s who are unsure of their gender identity will be permanently implemented.
Mr Streeting called the manner the medications had been used a “scandal” and informed MPs that, after consulting with the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), he was making the temporary ban that had been put in place in May permanent throughout the UK.
On Monday, December 9, he stated that the review found instances in which young people were administered the therapy following a single online consultation with a healthcare expert and completion of an online form.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care, the CHM said there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.
When it comes to healthcare, the health secretary stated that government policy must be evidence-led.
While acknowledging that not everyone would approve of the decision, Mr Streeting made an effort to reassure young transgender people. Since starting his job in July, he claimed to have met a lot of them and heard their worries, fears, and anxieties.
He said: “I know it’s not easy being a trans kid in our country today, the trans community is at the wrong end of all of the statistics for mental ill health, self-harm and suicide.
“I can’t pretend to know what that’s like, but I do know what it’s like to feel you have to bury a secret about yourself, to be afraid of who you are, to be bullied for it and then to experience the liberating experience of coming out.
“I know it won’t feel like it based on the decisions I’m taking today, but I really do care about this and so does this government. I am determined to improve the quality of care and access to healthcare for all trans people.”
Those under the age of 18 who used drugs prior to the ban are still permitted to keep using them.
But what are puberty blockers and why has NHS stopped prescriptions?
What are puberty blockers?
Puberty blockers are used to postpone puberty in children. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, which inhibit the synthesis of sex hormones like oestrogen and testosterone, are the most widely used puberty blockers.
Children who are unsure of their gender were administered them to stop physical changes such as the growth of breasts or facial hair.
Why did the NHS initially stop prescriptions?
Dr Hilary Cass's review into gender care published in April 2024 found that there was not enough evidence to support the safety or effectiveness of puberty blockers. Her report followed a dramatic increase in referrals to the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust's Gender Identity Development Service, which went from receiving 250 referrals year to more than 5,000 in 2022.
Maria Caulfield, then the Conservative health minister, said in March: “Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child.”
NHS England has not yet decided who can participate in its study on the use of puberty blockers.
Mr Streeting stated that any fresh information will be taken into consideration when the ban is re-examined in 2027.
How have people reacted to the ban?
Supporters of the ban praised Mr Streeting's “integrity” while critics labelled it “discrimination”.
Helen Joyce, of the Sex Matters campaign group, said: “Wes Streeting has shown integrity and bravery in replacing a temporary ban with an indefinite order.
“It marks another step towards puberty blockers being relegated to a shameful chapter of history, in which parents and health professionals were emotionally blackmailed into harming children in the name of 'progress'.”
Lara Brown, a senior research fellow at the Policy Exchange thinktank, called the ban a “victory” for child safeguarding and evidence-based medicine.
“There remains a great deal more to be done to implement the recommendations of the Cass Review and to row back the tide of gender ideology in our institutions, but this is a brave and important call for which Wes Streeting should be commended.”
TransActual's Keyne Walker said the ban smacked of “discrimination plain and simple”.
“Evidence of the harm of the temporary ban continues to emerge, and will grow now that it has been made permanent.”
Lauren Stoner, the chief executive of trans rights charity Mermaids, said she was “deeply disappointed”.
“The government is entirely disregarding the voices of trans youth, who made clear their deep opposition to the restriction of private prescriptions for puberty blockers during consultation.”
