Surgery accused over sex-change hormones

A LEGAL challenge is under way against a GP surgery accused of prescribing sex change hormones to a mentally "unstable" 16-year-old, without parental consent.

- By Lucy Johnston

The High Court review could lead to a crackdown on clinics prescribing hormones to under-18s, which is said to be against NHS rules. The case against WellBN Surgery in Hove, East Sussex, is led by a father who learned his son, "O", had been given cross-sex hormones, allegedly without proper medical safeguards.

The legal case filed on Friday implicates NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board and NHS England, as well as WellBN. It echoes the groundbreaking case of Keira Bell, who sued NHS gender clinic The Tavistock after claiming she was rushed into physical changes as a teenager without proper evaluation. Ms Bell later de-transitioned and warned that vulnerable children were being led down a damaging path.