Following a “unacceptable safety risk” warning from experts, the UK is planning to permanently prohibit puberty blockers for kids with gender dysphoria, reports RTE.
According to independent expert advice released by the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children,” according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
According to the agency, the panel suggested permanent limitations while efforts are made to guarantee the security of children and adolescents.
The then-Conservative administration claimed that by abolishing the prescription of puberty blockers to children at gender identity clinics, the NHS will guarantee that care is evidence-based and in the “best interests of the child” in March, reports RTE.
The Cass Review came to the conclusion the following month that studies that claimed to have positive impacts on children and young adults with gender dysphoria were of “poor” quality.
In her final report on gender care for children, Dr. Hilary Cass stated that the use of puberty blockers “spread at pace to other countries” because of a single Dutch study that “suggests puberty blockers may improve psychological wellbeing for a narrowly defined group of children with gender incongruence,” reports RTE.
With emergency legislation, the then-government banned puberty blockers in May, limiting NHS access to the drug to clinical studies and prohibiting prescriptions from private or European prescribers.
NHS England stated that the imposition of an indefinite prohibition on the sale and supply of puberty blockers through private prescriptions “closes a loophole that posed a risk to the safety of children and young people,” reports RTE.
The DHSC stated that although health is a devolved topic, the prohibition is applicable throughout the United Kingdom.
A clinical investigation on the use of puberty blockers is scheduled for next year.
In order to provide care for this “vulnerable group of young people,” UK Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting stated that it is necessary to “act with caution” and “follow the expert advice,” reports RTE.
“Children’s care must always be evidence-based,” he stated. The existing care and prescription approach for gender dysphoria and incongruence poses an intolerable safety risk for children and young people, according to the independent expert Commission on Human Medicines.
“Dr Cass’s review also raised safety concerns around the lack of evidence for these medical treatments. We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice. We are working with NHS England to open new gender identity services, so people can access holistic health and wellbeing support they need. We are setting up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year, to establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine,” reports RTE.
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