Women's rights campaigners have demanded that medics in Scotland stop prescribing puberty blockers to children – or risk future legal action.
For Women Scotland (FWS) has warned patients could take health boards to court if youngsters as young as nine continue to be prescribed the drugs despite concerns raised in a landmark report.
Paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass found gender medicine had been based on ‘shaky foundations’ and that under-18s had received unevidenced treatment.
Her review was announced after whistle-blowers raised fears over the Gender Identity and Development Services (Gids) for children at the Tavistock clinic in London.
For Women Scotland says there is no justification for medics prescribing puberty blockers for youngsters
NHS England has already announced the medication will no longer be routinely prescribed outwith clinical trials. However, in Scotland children can continue to receive puberty blockers.
FWS’s warning came as it emerged some NHS boards are still referring young patients to the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow – dubbed the ‘tartan Tavistock’.
An FWS spokeswoman said it supports Nationalist MP Joanna Cherry’s call for the prescribing of puberty blockers to end.
‘It is clear there is no medical evidence for their use and the Scottish NHS is entirely culpable for the harm done to any child given puberty blockers from this moment on,’ the spokeswoman said. ‘Court cases will inevitably follow otherwise.
‘There has never been a good reason to halt the puberty of physically healthy children and the figures show too many children, many of them autistic and most of them girls, have wrongly been put on a pathway to cross-sex hormones, infertility, increased health risks and lifelong medication.
The Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow is sometimes referred to as the 'tartan Tavistock'
‘It’s scandalous that any medic thought it appropriate to do so to nine-year-olds when all the evidence points to the vast majority of kids coming to terms with their bodies as they grow up. We hope the NHS, if not the Scottish Government, will quickly realise the folly of allowing trans activist groups to ideologically influence the treatment of children who are distressed about gender, and redesign care along clinically evidenced therapeutic lines as opposed to one-way medical affirmation.’
Critics say the Sandyford is run on a similar model to the Tavistock, something NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde disputes.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday asked all Scottish NHS boards if they were continuing referrals to the Sandyford. NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Tayside confirmed they are.
NHS Fife said it does not refer patients directly, but they can self-refer.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: ‘We are working with the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland to consider the findings of this review.’
Other boards failed to respond.
