\n Jessica Smith, 16, has been under the care of WellBN in Western Road, Hove, since they were 15.\n<\/p>\n
\n The NHS has stopped WellBN from prescribing\u00a0the puberty-suppressing hormones among others amid concerns it could have “inappropriately” offered them to\u00a0people younger than 16.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jessica, who identifies as non-binary, began to feel as though they were in the wrong body at the age of 11.\n<\/p>\n
\n They came out as trans feminine, meaning they have a feminine identity, but do not identify as female, at the age of 13.\n<\/p>\n
\n They began taking hormonal medication at 16.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jessica, who lives in Portslade, said WellBN\u2019s Trans Health Hub, which aims to improve access to healthcare and support for trans, non-binary, intersex and gender-variant people aged 16+, has been \u201camazing\u201d for them.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Jessica, left, at Trans Pride last year (Image: Supplied) They said: \u201cMy old GP had no knowledge, she said you\u2019ll have to wait eight years on a waiting list.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI found out about WellBN through another trans person.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou have a conversation, they assess how mature you are and they say what the treatment is, whatever the right choice is for the individual.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s really amazing.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDr Hall is the lead GP, the trans community absolutely loves him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I love, just knowing there are people in the healthcare system that do care and can get you what you need without having to wait years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt has made my life so much better. I feel better as a person.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing service and everyone in the trans community is so grateful.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Jessica said the clinic is important for the trans community (Image: Supplied) WellBN is currently under investigation by the NHS for \u201cprescribing or arranging the supply of medication for gender dysphoria\u201d for under 18s.\n<\/p>\n
\n The clinic is no longer initiating prescribing of hormone medications for children and young people under 18 for gender dysphoria.\n<\/p>\n
\n The outline for the investigation was published last month.\n<\/p>\n
\n It\u00a0stated that WellBN \u201cmay have been inappropriately offering both initiation of puberty suppressing hormones and masculinising and feminising exogenous hormones to several individuals under 18 years of age, including individuals who are under 16 years of age\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n The report states: \u201cIn the process of identifying the extent of the activity being undertaken by the practice, indications that patient harm may have occurred have now emerged.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis relates to the age of individuals being prescribed exogenous hormones and other medications as a response to gender incongruence, and the apparent absence of advice or support from paediatric and\/or child mental health clinicians with expertise in the broader assessment of young people with complex mental health and developmental challenges, as well as from expert paediatric endocrinologists.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n A dedicated helpline for young people under 18 and their families who are receiving gender care from WellBN has been set up.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Jessica said they have been informed by the clinic that their care could be stopped due to the investigation.\n<\/p>\n
\n They added: \u201cIf my care was stopped, I wouldn\u2019t be comfortable in my body anymore.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe need that care.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessica Smith, 16, has been under the care of WellBN in Western Road, Hove, since they were 15.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-102912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}