When puberty blockers were banned in the UK in 2024, fewer than 100 transgender children were being treated with them. According to the BBC at the time, those children would all be allowed to continue the treatments.
This week, the remaining 78 children have been informed they will be forcibly detransitioned by the NHS. The children were receiving care at WellBN, a GP clinic that was the last available option for trans children whose dysphoria had been treated before the care ban; the NHS has mandated that all care of this kind be stopped as of July 31.
An investigation into the clinic stressed the fact that this care was no longer available elsewhere, a fact it used to label the care as falling outside of NHS procedures. The report concluded that, although families found the treatments beneficial and no instances of demonstrated harm had been documented, the clinic’s treatment of minor patients “increased the risk of moderate to severe physical and psychological harm.” This finding was based largely on what the investigation deemed to be sub-par record-keeping and assessment of patients. It also noted that many patients were motivated to come to this clinic due to “prolonged delays in accessing NHS specialist services.” (Notably, gender affirming care waitlists for trans youth in the UK were frequently longer than the time it took to complete puberty.)
Included in the halting of the clinic’s care is the termination of hormone prescriptions to minor patients, also effective July 31. This sudden loss of access to hormones in an environment where it is nearly impossible to receive this treatment has left numerous patients and their carers devastated, with some describing the decision as “involuntary detransition.”
In a statement made by some of the families, published by Jolyon Maugham of the Good Law Project on Bluesky, they note that “the investigation finds no evidence of ‘actual harm’, only ‘potential harm’.” The statement describes how patients “are thriving” while receiving gender affirming care from WellBN, and expresses the fear that “taking that away from them is likely to cause terrible harm,” also noting a number of children expressing suicidal thoughts at the prospect of losing access to this care.
The families’ statement concludes with a call for the Integrated Care Board to put a pause to the withdrawal of care, requesting a more robust and individualized review of the quality of the clinic’s care.
Maugham also announced an initiative by the Good Law Project to fund the care for trans youth affected via private clinics, which in the UK are generally considered out of reach for all but the wealthiest families. GLP has pledged to fund care for the 10 youth most in need, and is asking for donations to assist more trans young people in maintaining the stability of their treatments. Without continued care, the youth will undergo irreversible changes as endogenous puberty recommences, along with the devastating psychological impacts of forced detransition.
The Journal of Adolescent Health has released a new study this month, exploring the rates of continuing gender affirming care versus detransition in minors.
The study, which looked at 445 adolescents in Canada who had received gender affirming care, determined that detransition was very rare, finding that just 2.9% of youth returned to identifying as their sex assigned at birth. This study is in line with the results of a 2024 study of trans youth in Australia which found a rate of detransition of just 5.3%.
In spite of best efforts by anti-trans people and organizations to focus on and emphasize rates of regret following transition, these studies show in clear detail how rare detransition truly is. While those who do detransition should receive appropriate care, studies have repeatedly found that satisfaction with transition care is far higher than other comparable medical treatments.
