Breaking: U.K. to Require Clinics to Release Long-Term Data on Minors Who Took Puberty Blockers

février 27, 2026

The U.K. will force gender clinics to release data on the outcomes of children who received puberty blockers to allow the country's National Health Service to conduct a study on how gender dysphoria treatments have affected long-term mental and physical health.

U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting this week announced the policy change that will give researchers access to the data of 9,000 people who were treated at the controversial Tavistock gender identity clinic before its closure in 2023. That clinic was closed after it was found to be unsafe for children. Pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass conducted a review and concluded the clinic was “not a safe or viable long-term option” and that other mental health issues were “overshadowed” in favor of gender identity issues when children were referred to the clinic’s gender identity development service.

The study of the puberty blocker data was first recommended by a groundbreaking review Cass published in 2024, in which she concluded that previous studies on the topic of gender-related medical care for minors and young adults were of “poor quality” and there is "very limited evidence on the longer-term outcomes" associated with medicalized transition.

But six of the NHS's adult gender clinics, where many of the minor patients eventually graduated to after receiving puberty blockers as children, had refused to release their data for the study before the new law was put in place.

Streeting said with the new law in place, "It is my clear expectation that all relevant organisations will now provide the data required to complete this study."

A Department of Health Social Care spokesperson told The Times that "Medical care must always be based on solid evidence and children's safety must come first.”

"Analysing existing data to better understand the needs, experiences and outcomes of people who had been referred to previous child gender services — but which does not involve new treatment or trials — will help to inform future decisions on gender care," the statement added.

Last week, a planned clinical trial of puberty blockers was put on pause at King's College London as concerns mounted that the trial should not move forward until the data from children who had already been put on the drugs was released. The trial was paused over concerns that the drugs would cause "long-term biological harms."

The move comes as skepticism about the safety of the treatments has grown among medical providers in the U.S. as well.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) released new guidance earlier this month cautioning physicians against performing gender-transition surgeries on minors. The new guidance acknowledges that there is insufficient evidence to prove that irreversible gender-related surgical interventions have long-term benefits for adolescents and therefore recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast, genital, and facial surgery until "a patient is at least 19 years old. The association has "substantial uncertainty" about the long-term benefits of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.