Safety inquiry finds 78 children harmed by gender medication at Brighton clinic

A safety inquiry into WellBN General Practice in Brighton has found that 78 children and young people may have been harmed after being given gender medication without the safeguards required for safe care. The NHS Sussex investigation, commissioned with NHS England and published on 11 June 2026, said the practice’s treatment of under-18s fell far short of what could be considered safe or appropriate.

The report examined prescribing of exogenous hormones and other medications for gender incongruence and looked at diagnosis, consent, Tanner stage, contact with the children and young people, endocrinology, neurodevelopmental issues, safeguarding, and findings of harm and risk of harm. It concluded that none of the clinicians whose care was considered were professionally competent to initiate or assume responsibility for prescribing these medicines.

The inquiry found 20 of the 78 cases involved prescriptions issued without a face-to-face appointment. Some of the children were as young as 11, and more than a third lived outside Sussex, with some travelling from as far away as 480 miles. Most of the patients had possible neurodevelopmental issues, but the report said there was no evidence those concerns were taken into account in prescribing decisions.

It also found no clear specialist diagnosis of gender incongruence or gender dysphoria in the cases examined. The findings sharpen scrutiny of the clinic’s prescribing model, particularly around whether children received proper assessment, informed consent, safeguarding checks, fertility counselling and monitoring before puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones were started.

The report names Dr A and Dr C among the clinicians criticised, while Dr Sam Hall left the practice in June 2025. One GP has since been suspended following publication of the inquiry, adding to pressure on the clinic and the wider primary care system that allowed such prescribing to continue. WellBN had already said on 22 May 2025 that NHS England and NHS Sussex had told it to stop initiating new NHS prescriptions for under-18s, though existing patients continued to receive care at that point.

NHS Sussex launched the independent investigation in June 2025 after concerns that prescribing may have fallen outside national clinical policy and guidance, and the case intensified after a High Court challenge brought by a parent known as ATN. NHS Sussex has also set up a dedicated helpline for affected young people and families, including those outside Sussex, as the fallout from the inquiry extends beyond Brighton and Hove and into the wider question of how clinics are regulated when children are placed on high-stakes treatment without the usual clinical safeguards.