About 1,000 senior doctors have written to the British Medical Association (BMA) saying they are “extremely disappointed” with the stance taken on gender services. The BMA has said it opposes a ban on puberty blocker treatments and wants the reforms following a recent official review to be put on hold, following a vote by members of its Council. But organisers say the doctors, including some former heads of Royal Colleges, have backed the open letter.
It accuses the BMA of being "opaque and secretive", with the policy not reflecting the views of the wider membership. The BMA has responded by saying it wants to carry out its own “evidence-led evaluation of the issues..
.and the state of transgender healthcare in the UK today”. A review of gender services by the leading paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, commissioned by NHS England, was published in April.
It concluded that children had been let down by a lack of research and "remarkably weak" evidence on medical interventions. Her report called for a move away from medical responses for children struggling with their gender identity, and the adoption of a broader based model incorporating better mental health support. Shortly before the report was published, the one clinic offering gender services in England and Wales, the Tavistock in London, was closed.
NHS England said it would no longer support routine prescribing of puberty blockers, which the NHS used to prescribe as a way of halting puberty. This was followed by a gov.