Gender Affirming Hormones NHSE Policy response

Gender Plus’s statement in response to the NHSE Clinical Commissioning Policy (21 March 2024) ‘Prescribing of Gender Affirming Hormones (masculinising or feminising hormones) as part of the Children and Young People’s Gender Service’. 

Gender Plus welcomes the recent NHSE policy document published on 21st March 2024 in which it lays out its approach to the prescribing of gender affirming hormones for transgender and non-binary adolescents aged 16 years+. This NHSE policy will bring it in line with the practice at Gender Plus, where post assessment referral for Gender Affirming Hormones (GAH) for those aged 16 years+ is already available. 

Many of the clinicians at Gender Plus have consulted and contributed to the Cass Review which in turn is informing the NHSE service commissioning policy. We had made clear in those contributions that we at Gender Plus would be adopting this service pathway protocol, which is in line with the international expert approach in the field, based on our decades of expertise and experience. 

We also welcome Appendix A in the policy document which makes provision for the continuation of prescribing within the new NHS services once certain criteria are met. The NHS pathway is hugely oversubscribed, with wait times currently at  4+ years, and so young people will now have the option to access independent care with a service such as ours knowing that this will not preclude them from accessing NHS treatment when they are eventually offered an appointment.  

Gender Plus remains available to support policy makers and commissioners with the enormous task of providing care to the several thousands of young people waiting to access specialist gender services.