Written question WQ100029
- Asked by
- Joe MartinReform
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Minister for Health and Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 13 days
Question
Does the Welsh Government support puberty blockers being prescribed to children on the basis of their gender identity?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Minister for Health and Care (Mabon ap Gwynfor)
Ensuring the best care possible is available for the people of Wales is a Welsh Government priority. Taking an evidence-based approach helps us do this, whatever the disease, by ensuring the risks and benefits of treatment are appropriately balanced. To do this, we expect clinicians working in Wales for follow the expert, independent advice of internationally respected bodies including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Where clinically appropriate, puberty suppressing hormones can be prescribed for children in Wales who started treatment prior to the UK Government’s order restricting their prescribing other than through the NHS, and to children accessing NHS gender services, as part of the National Institute for Health Research’s PATHWAYS study which commenced on 1 August.
We continue to be led by the scientific evidence when it comes to the design of support services for young people in Wales.