Children aged six or younger are reportedly in line for appointments at NHS gender clinics, which is exactly the kind of sentence that should make any sane adult stop and ask what on earth has happened to the country.
More than 250 primary school-aged children are waiting for care at these clinics across England, even though we are told, again and again, that this is all “care” and not a social and medical catastrophe dressed up in NHS language.
These clinics were set up after the 2024 closure of the Gender Identity Development Service at Tavistock, as though shutting one controversial service automatically solved the wider problem. It didn’t. The total number of children on the national waiting list still stood at 4,079 at the end of March, even after a 34 per cent drop from the 6,225 waiting at the same point in 2025. Progress, apparently, now means being slightly less alarming than before.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil
The waiting list
The average wait for a first appointment now stands at 102.6 weeks. That is down from 116 weeks at the end of March 2025, so we are meant to be reassured that the queue has become a little shorter, which is not the same thing as saying the system is sound.
The current waiting time is still slightly higher than the 100-week average seen in 2024. In other words, children are still being left waiting for nearly two years while the bureaucracy congratulates itself for shaving off a few weeks.
There are also 260 children on the list aged between seven and 11, while NHS England refused to give exact figures for those aged six or younger, citing confidentiality concerns about potentially identifiable small groups. Naturally, the most vulnerable children are also the least visible ones.
Matthew 19:14 Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me.
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The Cass Review
The Cass Review, led by Baroness Hilary Cass, found that children had been failed by insufficient research and evidence around medical interventions in gender care. That should have settled the matter. Instead, the system responded by changing the wording, changing the process, and carrying on as though procedure is the same thing as truth.
NHS England now requires referrals to be assessed by a GP and either a mental health specialist or paediatrician before a child can be referred. We are told the service has moved away from a medical model towards a “holistic approach,” which sounds reassuring until you remember how often institutions use soft language to disguise hard failures.
This includes consideration of “neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and ADHD”, which is at least an acknowledgement that something more complex may be going on. The clinics do not prescribe puberty blockers, which have been banned on the NHS for treating gender dysphoria since 2024.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
The restarted trial
Children as young as 11 will be eligible for puberty blockers under a restarted trial, because apparently the state has looked at the safety concerns and decided the answer is not to stop, but to restart with fresh paperwork. In February, regulators halted the Pathways experiment amid growing concerns over drugs that delay the onset of puberty in children. But now the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says new protocols have been agreed, and somehow we are supposed to hear that as a comfort.
Girls will need to be at least 11 to enrol, and boys at least 12 to be put on puberty blockers. These are hormone-suppressing drugs that pause the physical changes of adulthood, such as facial hair and periods, and they were once used to treat childhood gender dysphoria. Medics at the now-defunct Tavistock clinic prescribed them to children, and the Pathways trial was set up to study the drugs and learn more about how they affected children. The trial was paused when the regulator said it was concerned about “potentially significant” biological harm to participants. That is not a minor warning. That is the alarm bell.
Why are children used as lab rats?
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked.
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The indefinite ban
In December 2024, Wes Streeting, then health secretary, announced an indefinite ban on puberty blockers for under-18s and called the way they had been used a scandal. Quite right too. Unfortunately, in modern politics, saying something is a scandal does not always mean you are willing to stop it.
He later said he was “deeply uncomfortable” with the use of drugs to delay puberty, which is the sort of sentence that sounds principled right up until you notice the thing still hasn’t been stopped in every setting. He did not block the Pathways trial because the Cass Review recommended it, and now his replacement, James Murray, has not yet commented.
Mr Murray previously said that “trans women are women”, though he has since said he would change his stance following the Supreme Court ruling, which found that references to “sex,” “man,” and “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 mean biological sex. That is what happens when reality eventually intrudes on ideology.
Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay
Legal action
Legal action is ongoing against the Government after politicians and public figures, including JK Rowling, expressed opposition to the trial. Rowling described the Pathways trial as “an unethical experiment on children who can’t give meaningful consent,” which is one of the few statements in this whole fiasco that does not require translation.
A campaign group and two individuals are seeking legal action against the Health Research Authority and the Department of Health and Social Care, arguing that the ethical approval process for the trial contained serious flaws. Meanwhile, researchers at King’s College London have paused recruitment until at least August 1 because of the legal proceedings. So, even the researchers seem to understand that this is not the sort of experiment that inspires calm public confidence.
Proverbs 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.
Love2shop vouchers
The Telegraph previously revealed that children would be paid to take part in the controversial experiment. The trial was due to involve 226 children who believe they are transgender in a study of the side effects, and was set to start in April. Because of course, if the ethics are awkward, the answer is to add vouchers.
Children taking part in the trial were promised up to £500 in Love2Shop vouchers for completing psychometric tests, redeemable at shops including Currys, Uber Eats and Xbox. One almost has to admire the grim ingenuity: if the child cannot consent fully, perhaps a shopping voucher will provide the necessary moral uplift.
The drugs were indefinitely banned for under-18s after the Commission on Human Medicines said they posed an unacceptable safety risk to children. Yet the NHS-funded trial has still been allowed to proceed. Concerns raised in Dr Cass’s work suggest puberty blockers can reinforce a child’s belief they are transgender and may affect brain maturation and fertility. That is not a side note. That is the central warning.
Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.
Tories to blockers
The Conservatives will try to stop the NHS puberty blockers trial, Kemi Badenoch has said. She plans to force a Commons vote to block children as young as 11 from being given the drugs after regulators cleared the Pathways trial to restart. At last, someone in politics has decided to say the obvious out loud.
Mrs Badenoch made the comments as campaigners prepared to seek an emergency injunction to stop any children being recruited before a judicial review is heard. She said “children must never be used as test subjects because of pressure from trans-activists and bureaucrats,” and added that the Government should “halt the trial immediately because the evidence is weak and vulnerable children are being exposed to unacceptable risks.”
If Labour refuses to stop the trial, the Conservatives say they will try to amend the Health Bill to prevent it going ahead. That puts James Murray under pressure, though pressure is often what it takes before institutions stop pretending all of this is normal.
Ephesians 5:11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Read our related articles here:
Schools defy ministers: children ‘change gender’ without parental knowledge →
Mother banned from seeing sex-ed materials →
Costa promotes mutilation as Government
delays schools “transgender” guidance →
NHS bans puberty blockers for children →
UK in disarray over “puberty blockers” →
Doctors quit BMA over Cass rejection →
Who is defying the Supreme Court’s biological realities ? →
Labour confirms plans to ban ‘conversion therapy’ →
Kemi Badenoch warns of a ‘new form of conversion therapy’ →
Gay Conversion Therapy ban? Here come the Thought Police →
Council CEO rejects order to remove “pride flag” →
Son of Tavistock: NHS to open six new children’s gender clinics by 2026 →
Read and pray
READ: Gen 1:27-28; Lev 18:22; Ezekiel 16:49; Psalms 127:3-5; Romans 1:25-27; 1 Cor 11:3; Gal 5:19; Col 3:5; 1 John 4:19
PRAY: for the repeal of woke laws.
Pray for our children
Lord, protect every child from harm, confusion, and manipulation in the name of compassion.
Father, expose every hidden agenda, careless policy, and institutional failure affecting vulnerable children.
God, give courage to leaders, doctors, and lawmakers to choose truth over pressure and obedience to conscience over ideology.
Lord, heal children who have already been damaged by bad decisions, and restore peace to their bodies, minds, and identities.
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