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Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
@HelenWebberley
Mar 30, 2023 • 23 tweets • 12 min read • Read on X
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I promised to tell you how this all started….

In 2015, I founded @GenderGP and soon after I was told that I would be targeted by the very doctors who so desperately needed more doctors to help to provide care to cope with growing waiting lists. 1/23 🧵 Image
The GMC recognised that the complaints had come from my colleagues and not from patients. I told them this had happened before. 2/23 🧵

petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/tr… Image
The first target was in the form of a veiled threat regarding my adult patients from Dr Leighton Seal from @TaviAndPort and GenderCare. 3/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1ahAFRr… Image
His colleague and co-founder of GenderCare, Dr Stuart Lorimer, followed next, sending his concerns directly to the @gmcuk with the apparent backing of the small specialist group that currently provided this care. 4/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/14hvox4… Image
If you remember, Dr Lorimer and his other colleague from Charing Cross, Dr Barrett, were the ones that complained about Dr Russell Reid to the GMC when he started offering private care. 5/23 🧵

theguardian.com/news/2004/jan/… Image
In February 2016, Dr Lorimer wrote to the GMC again. He has never contacted me personally, he just chose to write to the GMC. Oddly his concerns included being vocal on social media and seeing patients by video, which he himself does! 6/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1cwaI7a… Image
My husband was attacked in the same way that I was. We didn’t have the financial or emotional resources to defend his case and he suffered the worst penalty. 7/23 🧵

newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/consultants/dr… Image
Mr Yelland was next, a colleague of the private London Gender Identity Clinic consultants. He didn’t accept newcomers caring for adults either! 8/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1nVP60Y… Image
And later in 2017, Mr Yelland referred me to the GMC. Usually colleagues would refer a doctor to the GMC for very serious matters indeed. But maybe trans healthcare is different…. 9/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1AtOL6-… Image
Dr Barrett took a different route. His complaint went to the CQC, which was then referred on to the GMC. Maybe an attack is more successful if from multiple angles? 10/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1SIKOzy… Image
Professor Gary Butler is obviously a key player in this and he started his attack when Patient A left his care to come under my care in 2016. Prof Butler wrote to many people, including the GP, to tell them how awful I was. 11/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1zniiMc… Image
Later in 2016, Prof Butler persuaded his Clinical Director, Prof Hindmarsh, to refer me to the GMC. Prof Hindmarsh took Prof Butler’s word for it and wrote the referral. The accusations were pretty terrible and very untrue and the GMC took it up 12/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1nB365r… Image
The following year, Prof Butler is contacted by a child psychiatrist for advice about a patient under his care who was also under my care. Prof Butler advises him to refer me to the GMC as well. 13/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1R7Y1Rw… Image
When Patient C’s GP phoned Prof Butler for advice, he is also told to refer the Webberleys to the GMC. It seems that Prof Butler really didn’t like us! 14/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1SMqU-1… Image
The allegations were serious and the GMC were right to look into them, but they didn’t listen to my explanations and evidence along the way. This could have been avoided if they had simply listened. 15/23 🧵

gmc-uk.org/-/media/docume… Image
The UK expert medic was Dr John Dean. He had taken an interest in my work since the beginning and seemed supportive at first. After all, we were both GPs. 16/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1wADU6p… Image
But then Dr Dean added his own complaint to the GMC outlining his own concerns about the Webberleys. Oddly he didn’t think this would be a conflict in him being an impartial expert witness. 17/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1yGluTH… Image
Dr Dean had also had a lot to say when discussing my care and GenderGP with those higher up in NHS England. And he still didn’t declare it as a potential conflict. 18/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1qu12yP… Image
Dr Dean found that my care had been ‘seriously below’ the expected standard in all three patients, even though he had never looked after a young trans patient. 19/23 🧵

drive.google.com/file/d/1MVn8Re… Image
Dr Dean was responsible for the majority of the allegations that I faced in my hearing. Yet when challenged on his expertise and opinion, he repeatedly told the Panel that this was outside his area of expertise. 20/23 🧵 Image
During the time I have been under investigation, trans healthcare in the UK has got worse. The critics are allowed their voice, and any new doctors are either stifled or undercover. Things have to change. 21/23 🧵

mpts-uk.org/hearings-and-d… Image
The doctors who reported me to the GMC get called out by the tribunal here…… 22/23 🧵 Image
Tomorrow, I will find out the result of the appeal. I shall start a new thread that explains the main findings of the MPTS hearing and what that will mean for the future of trans healthcare. 23/23 🧵

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More from @HelenWebberley

Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
Mar 5
@TimesRadio chose several snippets of my conversation with Andrew Neil to share and I want to take a minute to walk through them, sensibly.

💬Pubertal changes are irreversible!

Yes indeed they are, whether they are brought on by natural body development or whether they are induced by hormones given by medicine. .
Why is it acceptable for a transgender child to endure a puberty that contradicts their gender identity, yet providing them with hormones to align their body with their true self is loudly condemned by those who may not yet understand? Doesn't everyone deserve to look and feel 'normal' and to fit in.
This is what is so tragic in trans youth who have made the decision to go through the puberty that aligns with their gender identity. Puberty blockers would prevent a trans girl’s voice from breaking and they would prevent a trans boy from developing breasts. They would prevent the very irreversible pubertal changes that Andrew describes. They would mean that, as an adult, they would be non-identifiable as trans - what a relief in this harsh and sometimes very cruel world we live in.
Puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones for children who are transgender mean that their bodies get to align with their gender. The changes are irreversible and that is what trans youth want and need, and that is what the medical research (and not just opinion) shows is safe and effective.

⬇️ Continued in comments
💬Age 11 is too young!!

Puberty starts early, and it is getting earlier. How come it is OK for a cisgender child to have puberty at 11 but not OK for a trans child? Let’s be clear, the trans children that are lucky enough to have an early puberty that matches their gender identity have to have several factors all aligning. They have to have had a solid understanding of their gender identity from a very early age. They have to have supportive parents, and they have to have a supportive doctor. Those three factors rarely align, and that is the tragedy. But when they do, the lives of these people can be improved - in 2020 a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that transgender adults who took puberty blockers as adolescents experienced significantly less lifetime suicidal ideation than trans people who wanted these medications but could not access them.

📖: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC70…
💬 Child C changed her mind!!

The great thing about Puberty Blockers before hormones is that it presses pause on puberty for those who need it. It gives time to reflect and think and ponder, for those that need it. Let’s face it, being trans in this world is not yet easy, so there are a lot of questions to be answered. ‘Am I trans?’ is the easy question, but ‘Can I cope with being openly trans in this world?’ is a whole different conundrum. Vacillating, thinking, considering, changing your mind, are essential steps before deciding - and that is what puberty blockers allow. How can this be wrong?! Would we rather people had to make binary decisions or had services withdrawn rather than give people the time they need? Surely we are not that uncaring.
Read 7 tweets
Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
May 26, 2024
This is how it really is:

Puberty blockers are a copy of the natural hormone that prevents signals going from the brain to the testicles / ovaries telling them to produce hormones - so they block puberty. They are safe and life-saving for anyone who needs to stop those hormones for whatever reason (precocious puberty, the wrong puberty, endometriosis, infertility, cancer). 1/7
And for trans kids who are lucky enough to get puberty blockers right at the start of puberty - they cause immense relief. But do they stop gender dysphoria, do they solve a trans kid’s problems, do they give a trans kid a normal adolescence? No they don’t (hence the ‘we need more studies to show they are effective’). But why not? 2/7
Because what trans youngsters actually want and need is not just to just stop the wrong puberty, but also to start the RIGHT one. All the so-called ‘risks’ of puberty blockers (bones, brains) are because they stop hormone production and that isn’t safe for long periods of time - our bodies NEED hormones. So….. 3/7
Read 7 tweets
Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
Apr 26, 2024
🧵1/4 - It’s been just over a week since the Cass review was published and I am left with so many questions, but, one I find myself coming back to time after time is; where is the @gmcuk?

As many of you know, in July 2021 I underwent a comprehensive evaluation of my Fitness to Practice medicine relating to my care of three young transgender patients. The final outcome, determined in the High Court, found my 'fitness to practice was not impaired' as a result of the care I gave. That is, the care I gave in these cases was correct and appropriate.
🧵2/4 - As part of my evaluation, the @gmcuk did submit their position and stated that the WPATH and Endocrine Society guidelines were 'the paradigm' with which care should be compared and contrasted. Unlike the Cass review, both established organisations endorse the usage of puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones for transgender youth wishing to undergo medical transition.
🧵3/4 - The WPATH have stated their position on the Cass review, they say: "The document makes assumptions about transgender children and adolescents which are outdated and untrue, which then form the basis of harmful interventions. Amongst these is the supposition that gender incongruence is transient in pre-pubertal children. This document quotes selectively and ignores newer evidence about the persistence of gender incongruence in children"

They go further, stating "[the plan for the service] is likely to cause enormous harm and exacerbate the higher rates of suicidality experienced by these young people in the context of ongoing pathologisation and discrimination."

These are not small words.
Read 4 tweets
Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
Jul 26, 2023
"I'm entitled to my opinion!" Actually, you're absolutely right.

Contrary to popular opinion, you are allowed to disagree with transgender people.

A thread 🧵

1/6
Yes, if you personally feel that same-sex couples shouldn't get married, or people can't change their gender, or religion is stupid, then you are entitled to think that.

2/6
However, you are not allowed to:

❌Discriminate
❌Humiliate
❌Degrade
❌Harass
❌Defend
❌Hurt

Because of your own personal beliefs.

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
Jul 24, 2023
Trans employees - know your rights. (A thread🧵)

Here are key laws to keep in mind:

1️⃣ The Equality Act 2010.

This law prohibits discrimination against transgender individuals, ensuring they are treated fairly and respectfully at work.

1/6
2️⃣ Gender Recognition Act 2004.

This law allows transgender individuals to apply for legal recognition of their acquired gender. You get a Gender Recognition Certificate, confirming your gender identity and granting you legal protections.

2/6
3️⃣ Employment Rights Act 1996.

This act safeguards the rights of all employees, including transgender individuals, protecting them against unfair dismissal, discrimination, and mistreatment. It ensures that everyone is treated equally and fairly in employment.

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Dr Helen Webberley she/her Profile picture
Jul 1, 2023
1/4 I am a GP, I am self-taught in trans healthcare. I treated an 11 year old with blockers and a 12 year old with testosterone. This was fully scrutinised by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal and they determined this was good and necessary care. 🧵
2/4 So why is the NHS saying that we should not let kids socially transition, prevent them from accessing blockers at the start of puberty, certainly no hormones until they are adults?
3/4 Denying trans youth the healthcare that they need causes immense harm and the people responsible for this must be called out. Trans youth deserve the best healthcare possible. And yes, that includes blockers, hormones and surgery.
Read 4 tweets

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