by Eleanor Harding, The Times
There are 4,079 children in total expecting the support, including 260 of primary school age
Children as young as six are on waiting lists for NHS gender clinics in England, figures show.
In total, there are 4,079 children waiting to be seen at three specialist clinics which provide support for young people in distress about their gender identity.
This includes 260 children of primary school age — between five and 11. At least one of those children but fewer than ten were aged six or younger, NHS England said, but it would not give an exact number as this could breach confidentiality.
There are three children’s gender services in England, in London, Bristol and the southwest, which provide “holistic” support including counselling and autism assessments.
From August, children at the clinics will be eligible to sign up to a NHS puberty blockers trial which will recruit up to 250 girls and boys as young as 11.
The services were set up in the wake of the closure in 2024 of the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) which had been run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and was found to be providing unsafe care and rushing children on to sex hormones.