Dear Mums and Dads, protectors and kids, teenagers and families, GPs and medical specialists,
This is a terrible moment for transgender people right now, we are facing an horrific time in history where trans rights are being denied, people’s identities are being debated, attacks are being launched, clinical treatment is being withdrawn, dangerous policies are being introduced.
I am aware of the negative effects that this may have, as it means that transgender people (and adults) are not given access to essential puberty blockers and sex hormones on the NHS. The expert center is never operating, and doctors and local hospitals are afraid to assist you. The prospect feels dark.
I want to explain to you that the latest NHS perspective is incompatible with the real experts from all over the globe.
The World Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) released a statement regarding the proposed requirement in November 2022, saying:
‘General, WPATH, ASIAPATH, EPATH, PATHA, and USPATH find significant deficiencies in
This file contains a proposal for a support for sex various children and young people in England that is likely to do a lot hurt and only make the higher rates of suicidality experienced by these young people in the wake of continued ongoing issues. pathologisation and discrimination. WPATH, ASIAPATH, EPATH, PATHA, and USPATH urges NHS England and Wales to reevaluate its current strategy. contrary to the advancements being made in many other countries around the world and inconsistent with the Yogyakarta Principles (2017) and the World Health Organization’s (2017) statements regarding the right to the highest level of health that are currently possible. In November 2023, WPATH and EPATH came together and said: Transgender and gender diverse young people in the UK are experiencing a health care access crisis. I completely agree that the new policies are profoundly harmful and that they denigrate care that has been determined to be necessary, appropriate, and safe. It is harmful to deny essential care to any young person and is unacceptable.
I urge you not to accept this approach. The NHS has a duty to provide care for trans children, to stop harm, and to stop the stigmatizing and life-changing effects of a child going through a puberty that doesn’t align with their gender identity by denying them access to the appropriate hormone to give them the puberty that does.
Stand your ground, keep your head up, and ask a doctor a very simple question when they say a child doesn’t deserve the care that has been proven and evaluated to help. If you won’t provide this care, what steps will you take to make sure this child’s mental and physical health is safe, and if harm comes to this child, who will I hold responsible?’
In 2015, I founded GenderGP to help with this very problem. GenderGP will not adhere to the NHS’s recommendations, but rather adhere to international standards and best practice, which include using puberty blockers for transgender children when trying to stop the changes that will occur in their bodies during puberty. And it means giving the child the hormones necessary to reach a gender identity that matches their gender identity. That is what compassionate, understanding, essential care looks like and it is totally legal, appropriate and right for trans youth.
Between 2017 and 2023, as a GP, I underwent formal Fitness to Practice proceedings covering three transgender patients:
- A 12 year old to whom I prescribed testosterone
- A 16 year old to whom I prescribed testosterone
- An 11 year old to whom I prescribed blockers
The Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal Service determined that those prescriptions were appropriate, and necessary, and correct. I sincerely hope this enables you to assist your transgender children in receiving the care they need. I hear your pain, I feel your anger, and I want the best for you and for every child in this country, regardless of their colour, their age, their religion, their sex, their gender identity, their sexuality. These traits are safeguarded for a very good reason. Keep your chin up, fight for that child, and avoid policy from hurting you, whether you are a doctor or a parent. I am aware of your position and will always do everything in my power to assist you. Stand together and fight together.
With the deepest respect, Dr Helen Webberley
