NHS England: New restrictions for the prescription of puberty blockers
The NHS England has revealed new restrictions for the prescription of puberty blockers. On 9 June, the publically-funded health service announced that it will no longer give the hormone-blocking medicine to trans youth attending gender clinics. “Outside of a research setting, puberty–suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents who have gender incongruence/dysphoria,” the NHS said regarding its new “interim policy.” Instead, puberty blockers will only be made available to children who take part in clinical trials or under specific circumstances – including those who had a history of treatment “outside NHS protocols.” “If a child or young person has already been started on puberty suppressing hormones outside of NHS protocols by the time that they are seen by the NHS, The Service may consider assuming clinical responsibility for prescribing through NHS protocols if The Service’s MDT jointly concludes with the related endocrine clinic that this is an appropriate harm reduction measure,” they said. “In such cases administration of puberty suppressing hormones would need to be stopped for a brief period of time to allow baseline investigations to be undertaken by The Service.” The NHS also announced that the new Children and Young People’s Gender Dysphoria Research Oversight Board will be conducting research into the effects of puberty blockers. “We will develop a study into the impact of puberty blockers on gender dysphoria in children and young people with early-onset gender dysphoria, which aims to be up and running in 2024,” an NHS spokesperson told the BBC.
