Indefinite ban on puberty blockers to be introduced

The ban on giving puberty blockers to under-18s questioning their gender identify is to be made permanent, Health Secretary Wes Streeting says.

Streeting told the House of Commons he was making the temporary ban currently in place indefinite across the UK, following a consultation and advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, calling the way it had been used a "scandal".

The expert group said prescribing the drugs to children for gender dysphoria was an "unacceptable safety risk".

The health secretary said the review had found cases where children had been prescribed the treatment after filling out an online form and only having one online consultation with a health care provider.

Puberty blockers are drugs used to delay or prevent puberty happening.

A temporary ban was put in place by the last Conservative government – and had been renewed twice by Streeting.

Streeting said when it came to health care it was essential the government was evidence-led.

The order followed publication of a landmark review earlier this year into gender care services for children by the paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass.

It found a lack of evidence around treatment for under-18s with puberty-blocking drugs.

In March, NHS England decided that puberty blockers would no longer be routine treatment for children with gender dysphoria.

Then in May, the Conservative government tightened rules on the drugs, introducing an emergency ban on them being prescribed by private and European prescribers.

This was kept in place by Labour when they came to power and was subsequently challenged in the High Court. The government won that case.

Announcing the indefinite ban, Streeting said: "It is a scandal that medicine was given to vulnerable children without the proof that it was safe or effective."

But Streeting said the planned clinical trial by NHS England into the use of puberty blockers was going ahead.

He said the ban would then be reviewed in 2027 in the light of any new evidence that emerged.

Under-18s who were on the drugs before the ban was introduced have been allowed to continue using them.