Some extracts:
"Foreign doctors are prescribing powerful sex change hormones to 15-year-olds in England without their parents’ involvement, a Telegraph investigation has found. ‘’
"GenderGP, an online transgender healthcare services clinic, uses a legal loophole to flout NHS rules to issue valid prescriptions which can then be used to obtain the medication from pharmacies in Britain.
"The sex change, or “cross-sex” hormones irreversibly change users’ bodies over the course of treatment and can also leave users infertile.
"An undercover Telegraph reporter posing as a 15-year old girl was prescribed testosterone – the male hormone, which is a controlled drug – after just two Skype appointments with counsellors and one Skype appointment with a doctor at the online clinic.
"Staff never asked to speak to her parents nor demand proof that any adult knew of her plans to transition, beyond a single email from a 20-year-old half-brother confirming that he would pay for treatment.
"Lead counsellor, Marianne Oakes, said they did not require her parents’ “permission”.
"Staff accepted at face value the reporter’s stated belief that she was really male, telling her “we’re not worried about your truth because there’s no debate about that”..
GenderGP defended its practices on Thursday, claiming that “not all parents are supportive” and that when a young patient is able to consent to their treatment “in their own right, then that treatment can be appropriate and necessary”...
"The reporter, posing as a 15-year-old, received a prescription for a four-month supply of 'Testogel', during which time her voice could irreversibly deepen and facial hair start to grow.
"It was signed by a doctor in Romania, who the Telegraph has identified as a geriatrician also trained in administering Botox. GenderGP does not offer patients the chance of an appointment with her, even though she authorises the medication. Instead they are directed to a doctor in Egypt, who told the reporter that it was “excellent” that, aged 15, she knew she never wanted to have children....
"We were also made aware of messages posted on a moderated chat forum hosted by Mermaids, a support group for trans minors which has ties with schools, where children had described how they had been able to obtain prescriptions from GenderGP."