First puberty blockers, now hormones: England's NHS bans more gender-affirming drugshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/03/first-puberty-blockers-now-hormones-englands-nhs-bans-more-gender-affirming-drugs/ 🔗Greg Owen (15 March 2026)
This week, England's National Health Service (NHS) threw up yet another roadblock to gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the UK.
On Monday, the NHS announced it was pausing new referrals for feminizing and masculinizing hormones for 16- and 17-year-olds suffering from gender dysphoria, citing a collection of studies commissioned by the health service after publication of the controversial Cass Report in 2024, the Guardian reports.
That study recommended "extreme caution" initiating hormone treatments, including estrogen and testosterone, and a "clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18."
The new NHS report comes to a similar conclusion.
"Following the Cass review, NHS England commissioned an in-depth review of all available clinical evidence for using estrogen or testosterone either alone or with other medications to treat gender incongruence and dysphoria," the report states. "This review has established that the available evidence does not support the continued use of masculinizing or feminizing hormones to treat gender incongruence or dysphoria for young people under 18."
The Cass Review, which contradicted long-established guidance around the efficacy of gender-affirming care for trans youth, has already prompted the health service to halt prescriptions of puberty-suppressing drugs for trans youth, with an indefinite ban for trans minors enacted by the UK government in December 2024.
