Private clinics are told not to prescribe puberty blockers

The government has introduced an emergency ban on private clinics’ prescribing and supplying of puberty suppressing hormones to under 18s in England, Wales, and Scotland.1The health secretary, Victoria Atkins, said on 29 May that the ban would “address risks to patient safety” that remained after the NHS stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker treatments to under 18s in March, in line with an interim independent review into gender identity services for children and young people.That decision was part of NHS England’s ongoing overhaul of children’s gender identity services in England after the interim review by Hilary Cass, published in 2022.2 However, a loophole meant that private clinics could still prescribe the drugs, and campaigners warned that children could be at risk if they used online clinics.The final review by Cass, past president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, was published last month.3 In her review Cass…
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