A judicial review is threatening the future of an “outstanding” private trans healthcare provider in the UK.

The legal challenge urged the High Court to review the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) decision to award regulated status the Gender Plus Hormone Clinic.

Currently the only regulated independent trans healthcare provider for patients aged 16 and older, Gender Plus supports trans people in “strict accordance” to NHS guidelines on gender dysphoria treatment. It does not prescribe puberty blockers.

The judicial review, brought by a former member of the youth gender clinic at the Tavistock, in London, and an anonymous mother, will determine whether Gender Plus can keep its regulated status, allowing it to continue providing care.

The clinic was awarded regulated status in January 2024, achieving an “outstanding” rating – the highest the public body can give – later that year.

CQC regulators praised the clinic’s “robust approach” in key areas of care, including risk management, staff training and patient treatment. Activists have warned that if it loses its status, there could be “very real dangers” for transgender youngsters, making timely, appropriate care “unattainable”.

Dr Aidan Kelly, a consultant clinical psychologist and director at Gender Plus, told PinkNews that the treatment centre remains committed to providing “safe, effective, essential healthcare“, adding: “Our multi-disciplinary team has decades of combined experience working with young people, and our commitment to providing the best possible service is what resulted in both our CQC registration in January 2024 and the subsequent outstanding rating in December 2024.”

‘I felt cared for by people whose only goal is for me to make a safe and healthy transition’

Without a regulated private healthcare service, trans youngsters in the UK would be forced either to endure the years-long waiting times at regional hubs, go to an unregulated private healthcare provider, or self-medicate, which could pose health risks.

Request for shared-care agreements involving unregulated private clinics are more likely to be turned down by GPs, at a time when surgeries are already denying trans people prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy.

Gender Plus patients have praised the help they have been given, with one saying: “The experience has been amazing, and I felt genuinely cared for by people whose only goal is for me to make a safe and healthy transition.”

Dr Kelly said Gender Plus had committed much time and energy to ensure it “set the gold standards”, adding: “We have seen other services seeking to serve the community fall down due to a lack of regulation, leaving their users in limbo.

“It’s no surprise that the same individuals who sought to prevent access to care for transgender youth on the NHS, would now target the only legitimate independent service provider looking after those aged 16 and 17.

“The very real dangers of this approach are not hard to comprehend. Removal of this care will not stop people from transitioning, it will just place them at further risk and that is something we should be avoiding at all costs.”

If the High Court finds in favour of the CQC, transgender teens would not need to turn to “grey market” alternatives which lack medical oversight.

Recent analysis at the University of London, conducted by trans academic, Dr Natacha Kennedy, showed that the UK ban on puberty blockers was having “serious adverse effects” on transgender youngsters.

Asked about the indefinite ban, several youngsters reported experiencing “overwhelming levels of distress” and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

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