A safety inquiry into the WellBN clinic in Brighton has found that dozens of children were put at risk after being given gender medication without proper checks. The investigation, which was carried out by five independent clinicians, found that 78 children were prescribed puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones without face-to-face appointments or adequate medical supervision.
According to the report, the approach to care at the clinic fell 'far short of what could be considered safe or appropriate'. None of the clinicians involved were professionally competent to start children on gender medications, and there was a lack of advice or support from specialist doctors.
The report also found that necessary blood tests were often not carried out, putting children's physical health at risk. In total, 44 children under the age of 16 were prescribed drugs to delay or suppress puberty, including 12 children under the age of 13. A further 51 children under the age of 16 were given cross-sex hormones, including four under the age of 13.
NHS England has ordered the clinic to stop prescribing new medication to children, and a number of current and former clinicians have been referred to medical regulators. One doctor has been suspended from working as an NHS GP while further investigations are ongoing.
Dr Christopher Tibbs, regional medical director for NHS England, said that young people were put at a high risk of harm because clinicians provided 'specialist diagnosis, care and treatment that they were neither qualified, nor commissioned to deliver'. 'Under no circumstances should this have happened,' he added.