UK doctor supplying puberty blockers to children loses license

The General Medical Council revoked the license to practice medicine of controversial doctor Helen Webberley, whose clinic supplies puberty blockers to children.

The board's decision was reportedly due to Webberly's failure to comply with the legal obligation of a registered physician to revalidate her license every five years.

Despite the move, Webberley told The Times that she will continue to work at her clinic, GenderGP. It is an online company registered in Singapore, which provides access to puberty blockers and hormones.

"I fought incredibly hard to keep my licence, both for myself and also for the community, because it’s important to set precedent. Now to have it taken away on a technicality, if you like, is very heartbreaking, but I will continue my work as I have done." said Webberley in a statement to The Times.

The Times explained that GenderGP diagnoses adults and children with suspected gender dysphoria and "connects them to doctors outside Britain, in the European Economic Area (EEA), for prescriptions for hormones.”

"This means UK children as young as eight can access puberty blockers, despite the Cass Report, a review of trans healthcare led by the paediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass, concluding there was no good evidence for prescribing them," reviewed The Times. 

Similarly, The Times recalled that the doctor was suspended from practicing medicine in 2022. This came after a panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service found that she had committed gross misconduct for her treatment of three children. Webberly successfully appealed the decision to the High Court in 2023.

However, the General Medical Council then withdrew her license after determining that the instructions to revalidate without reasonable excuse had not been complied with. Also, The Times explained that Webberly has managed to circumvent the legal restrictions on prescribing the blockers by not living or having the company registered in the UK. 

"Webberley, in an interview with The Times last month, said patients at her offshore clinic were going abroad, using foreign doctors and chemists, to side-step the ban (...) Now the revelation that she has lost her GMC licence to practise may increase concerns about her clinic, which operates out of reach of regulators such as the Care Quality Commission," the media outlet highlighted.