Following a court ruling, a controversial British medical institution will be able to provide so-called gender affirming services to children. This comes despite the fact that similar services are restricted within the NHS and that the regulator responsible for approving the clinic—the Care Quality Commission (CQC)—has been criticised as “unfit for purpose” by Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
The Gender Plus Hormone Clinic (GPHC) was registered last year and is run by former staff from the now-defunct and discredited Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which was part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Despite often being referred to simply as ‘the Tavistock,’ the trust itself was the broader institution. The clinic’s registration was legally challenged by whistleblower nurse Susie Evans and an anonymous mother, known as “XX,” who took the CQC to court for authorising GPHC to operate in Birmingham.
However, Mrs Justice Eady rejected the legal challenge, ruling that the CQC’s decision to approve the clinic was not “irrational” and fell within the range of legally acceptable outcomes. The ruling allows GPHC to continue offering treatments that are now restricted within the NHS following Baroness Cass’s recommendation to ban puberty blockers and cross-sex medical interventions for children under 16. Her review also called for “extreme caution” when prescribing such treatments to 16- and 17-year-olds.
While GPHC does not prescribe puberty blockers, it does offer so-called gender-affirming hormones, such as testosterone, to help children physically resemble the opposite sex. The clinic is led by former Tavistock clinician Dr Aidan Kelly, a member of the controversial World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). The organisation promotes adolescent sex-change surgeries and has controversially advocated for “eunuch” to be recognised as a gender identity. Its website has also hosted disturbing content, including a folder labelled “erotica” that reportedly contained material depicting the castration of boys.
