James Kirkup James Kirkup

The NHS has quietly changed its trans guidance to reflect reality

(Photo: iStock)

Imagine you have a child who says they believe they were born in the wrong body, describing what amounts to a fundamental and painful mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. Imagine the child you see as your daughter declaring that they are in fact a boy.

Where would you turn for information? No doubt a lot of people in such a position would consult the NHS. That ‘mismatch’, after all, could be a sign of gender dysphoria, a condition recognised – and treated – by the health service.

What would you find if you looked up this issue on the excellent and comprehensive NHS website? First, you’d see reassuring words telling you that the NHS can help your child:

‘Treatment for gender dysphoria aims to help people live the way they want to, in their preferred gender identity or as non-binary.’

Perhaps you might wonder about the treatments for young children in this context. Maybe you’ve seen headlines about children being given hormone therapy drugs that change their bodies, or heard things about the long-term effects of medical interventions that made you worry.

In which case, you might well have been reassured by the NHS website’s soothing words about hormone therapy for children.


Here’s what you would have read on that topic:

‘Hormone therapyIf your child has gender dysphoria and they’ve reached puberty, they could be treated with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. These are synthetic (man-made) hormones that suppress the hormones naturally produced by the body.Some of the changes that take place during puberty are driven by hormones. For example, the hormone testosterone, which is produced by the testes in boys, helps stimulate penis growth.GnRH analogues suppress the hormones produced by your child’s body. They also suppress puberty and can help delay potentially distressing physical changes caused by their body becoming even more like that of their biological sex, until they’re old enough for the treatment options discussed below.GnRH

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