More than £10 million in NHS funding will be spent on new research into children’s gender care including the use of puberty blockers.
Plans for a trial were announced last year following the publication of the Cass Review which concluded the quality of studies claiming to show beneficial effects of such medication for children and young people with gender dysphoria was “poor”.
An NHS-commissioned study, to last until 2031, has now been confirmed by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), to be carried out by a team of researchers led by King’s College London on a contract worth £10,694,902.24.
Retired consultant paediatrician Dr, now Baroness, Hilary Cass (Yui Mok/PA)
Baroness Hilary Cass, who authored the 2024 report in her name, said the research aims to “fill some of the gaps in our knowledge about the outcomes of different interventions and address some of the uncertainty about the impacts and efficacy of puberty suppressing hormones”.
The puberty blocker trial will form part of the four-part wider Pathways study.
It will see young people, who have the agreement of their parents and NHS gender services, given puberty suppressing hormones (gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues or GnRHa) while having their physical, social and emotional well-being monitored across two years.
Other parts of the overall study will involve tracking the well-being of children, including those not on the puberty blocker trial, attending NHS gender clinics.
The research will also monitor whether puberty blockers affect young people’s thinking and brain development, using various activities and brain scans.
Researchers will speak to young people about their experiences of living with gender incongruence and of the care they get, as well as obtaining the views of parents and staff.
The first patients had been expected to be recruited to the puberty blocker trial this spring but the NHS has noted this will be subject to strict ethical and regulatory approval.
Professor James Palmer, who is the NHS national medical director for specialised services, said: “This suite of research will examine the evidence for a range of clinical care, including the use of puberty suppressing hormones, following advice from the Cass Review.
“Independent researchers led by King’s College London will now progress this joint NHS and NIHR project, which will be subject to strict ethical and regulatory approval and follow stringent safeguards in scientific research.
“In the meantime, the NHS continues to expand and improve services for children and young people with gender dysphoria and incongruence, in line with recommendations from the Cass Review.”
Baroness Cass added: “Access to the study will be through the new NHS children and young people’s gender services where a multi-disciplinary team approach will be taken to identify those children who, with the consent of their parents, may be deemed clinically suitable for consideration of puberty suppressing hormones through the study.
“The children participating in the study will also continue to receive comprehensive psychosocial support.”
Puberty blockers are not prescribed on the NHS to children for the treatment of gender dysphoria, with a ban last year being made permanent in December with the agreement of devolved governments across the UK.
The ban sought to close a loophole on the sale and supply of puberty blockers through private prescriptions for under-18s after the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) published independent expert advice that there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.