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The parents of transgender teenagers in the UK have denounced the effect the ban on puberty blockers is having on their children. According to North West Bylines, the parents of children receiving gender-affirming care at GP surgeries in East Sussex, have described life as “horrific” and “inhumane”, in the wake of the indefinite ban on new NHS prescriptions for puberty blockers for anyone under the age of 18, imposed by health secretary Wes Streeting last December. The WellBN GP practice in Brighton and Hove, where about 26,000 patients are treated across three surgeries, has been the subject of an investigation by the NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) for continuing to prescribe the medicine to trans youngsters. This is despite the government website stating that “NHS patients who are already receiving these medicines for gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria can continue to access them, as can patients receiving the medicines for other uses.” A mother, known only as Laura, said her daughter began taking puberty blockers at the age of 12 and over the past four years, had undergone full female puberty, including breast growth. ‘We are being treated like criminals’ She described the ban as “forced detransition” and “inhumane”, and branded the ICB’s investigation “horrific”. Laura went on to say: “We said no to [them] accessing our patient files and they threatened the senior lead doctors [with closure of] the entire practice. They still breached data. “You can’t just rip children off these meds years into transition. My daughter is tanner stage five [breast development], she never entered male puberty. Your jaw would drop if you saw her. I can’t let these people win.” Calling the investigation pre-determined, she said: “They know this is likely to cause suicides. They don’t care. We jumped through every hoop for years and we followed what the government asked of us.“ Another parent said her child had “gotten so much worse” following the ban and accused the ICB of saying no GP would prescribe blockers, regardless of whether children were on them before the ban, despite that being “completely the opposite of what the law states”, adding: “We were told that GPs would take over the prescription, except no GP would, only Dr Sam, which is why we all went to him. We did exactly what we were told to do and now we are being treated like criminals. “I am really angry and we keep getting told the information we are being given is private and confidential but I cannot sit on this anymore, they are destroying the lives of our children and we are being expected to sit back and quietly take it.” ‘This is a bullying tactic’ Dr Sam Hall, who used to work at one of the surgeries, said: “NHS Sussex have twice threatened WellBN with withdrawal of the GMS [general medical service] contract held by the partnership. WellBN have been looking after trans youth for over five years with the full knowledge of NHS Sussex and [NHS England]. Why is this suddenly an issue? “This is a bullying tactic designed to scare them into withdrawing life-saving care, despite warnings from coroners about the risk to life for trans young people.” Research for the University of London, conducted by trans academic Dr Natacha Kennedy earlier this year, showed that the decision to ban the physically reversible gender-affirming treatment was “significantly, extensively and relentlessly harming trans children and young people”. Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
