Here’s that blog post in full:
Dear Mums and Dads, guardians and children, teenagers and families, GPs and hospital doctors,
This is a terrifying time for trans people right now, we are facing an awful time in history where trans rights are being denied, people’s identities are being debated, attacks are being launched, medical care is being withdrawn, harmful policies are being introduced.
I understand what impact that has – this means that trans youth (and adults) do not have access to essential puberty blockers and sex hormones on the NHS. GPs and local hospitals feel scared to help you and the specialist clinic is not operating. The future feels bleak.
I want to explain to you that the current NHS view is not in line with the true specialists from across the world.
In November 2022, the World Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) made a statement regarding the proposed specification saying:
‘Overall, WPATH, ASIAPATH, EPATH, PATHA, and USPATH find serious flaws in
this document, which sets out a plan for a service for gender diverse children and young people in England that is likely to cause enormous harm and exacerbate the higher rates of suicidality experienced by these young people in the context of ongoing
pathologisation and discrimination. WPATH, ASIAPATH, EPATH, PATHA, and
USPATH urge NHS England and Wales to reconsider its approach, which is now
contrary to the progress being made in many countries around the world and incongruent with statements from the World Health Organization (2017) and the Yogyakarta Principles (2007) relating to the right to the highest attainable standard of health.’
In November 2023, WPATH and EPATH came together and said:
‘Transgender and gender diverse young people across the United Kingdom are facing a health care access crisis.’I totally agree – the new policies are deeply harmful and are denying care that has been evaluated as being safe and necessary and appropriate. Denying essential care to any young person is not acceptable and risks harm.
I urge you not to accept this approach. The NHS has a duty to provide trans children care, to prevent harm, to prevent the life-changing and stigmatising effects of undergoing a puberty that does not align with their gender identity and not being able to access the right hormone to give that child the puberty that does align with their identity.
Stand your ground, keep your head up and when a doctor denies a child the care that has been proven and evaluated to help, ask them a very simple question. ‘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 be following the NHS guidance, it will be following International Guidelines and best practice – which means puberty blockers for transgender children when they are seeking to prevent the changes that will happen to their bodies during puberty. And it means providing gender-affirming hormones to allow that child to go through the puberty 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 hope that this gives you the confidence to help your transgender children get 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 characteristics are protected for a very good reason.Whether you are a doctor or a parent, keep your chin up, continue to fight for that child, do not let policy harm you. Stand together and fight together, I know you are right and I will always do anything I can to help you.
With the deepest respect, Dr Helen Webberley