The Government is facing legal action unless it orders a full public inquiry into allegations surrounding a rogue NHS gender service.
The move comes after a bombshell patient safety report found children and young people at WellBN, in Brighton and Hove, were exposed to practices that put them at “risk of unknowingly receiving treatment that could cause severe physical and psychological harm”.
Now, a devastated father and the Bayswater Support Group, which supports parents of trans-identifying children, have served a pre-action protocol letter on Health Secretary James Murray, warning they will ask the High Court to intervene unless ministers launch an independent investigation into why complaints stretching back five years allegedly failed to trigger action from health regulators.
The father and the Bayswater Support Group want to know why repeated warnings from doctors, parents and whistleblowers failed to provoke action from NHS England, the General Medical Council, the Care Quality Commission and local NHS chiefs.
Lawyers acting for the claimants’ complaints were repeatedly raised from 2020 onwards but that substantive action only began after a parent – known as ATN – launched High Court proceedings in February 2025.
They want ministers to investigate what they describe as a catalogue of “systemic failures and regulatory paralysis” that allowed the situation to continue.
The row centres on WellBN, an NHS GP practice in Brighton which operated a specialist “Trans Health Hub”.
Earlier this month, an independent patient safety investigation by NHS Sussex reviewed the care of 78 children and young people who had received prescriptions for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or related medication through the practice.
James Murray has been served a pre-action protocol letter
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PA
Doctors at the practice involved in treating children with gender issues have now been referred to the General Medical Council.
The investigation found the medics’ care “fell far short of what could be considered safe or appropriate”.
“None of the clinicians whose care was considered in the investigation were professionally competent to initiate or assume responsibility for prescribing these medications,” the report said.
Investigators found risk and safety assessments were “inadequate”, record-keeping was “poor and disorganised” and important information was being stored in emails and messaging apps.
Only 23 appropriate consent forms could be located for the 78 young patients reviewed. Investigators also found puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones had been prescribed without comprehensive assessments and, in 22 cases, without any face-to-face appointment. Children and families were not properly informed about the impact on fertility or options for preserving it.
The report found the clinic’s approach put children and young people at risk of “unknowingly receiving treatment that could cause severe physical and psychological harm”.
According to the legal challenge, a senior physician in Brighton complained to NHS England and the GMC as far back as 2020 after becoming alarmed that cross-sex hormones were allegedly being prescribed without appropriate training or assessment.
The doctor was concerned that patients, including children, were being placed on a gender-affirming pathway and given life-altering hormones without gender dysphoria being properly explored. The physician believed the practices were unsafe.
The claimants say no action was taken.
A second warning came from a parent who complained to NHS Sussex in May 2023 after discovering minors were allegedly being placed on gender-affirming hormone treatments without parental consent.
She later wrote to NHS England, the CQC, Brighton and Hove Local Medical Committee, NHS Sussex and the GMC.
According to the claimants, “The GMC refused to engage” while NHS Sussex’s chief executive suggested the family sue the NHS.
The third key complaint came from the parent known as ATN, who discovered in October 2024 that his 16-year-old child had allegedly forged their mother’s signature on a consent form and had been taking cross-sex hormones without their parents’ knowledge.
The father says he complained to the GP practice, Brighton and Hove Council, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the GMC and the Integrated Care Board.
WellBN clinic in Brighton | GOOGLE MAPS
The claimants state: “Despite the father’s remonstrations with the GP and with the surgery and his complaints to the Brighton & Hove Council, the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, the GMC and the ICB, nothing was done.”
It was only after ATN launched judicial review proceedings in February 2025 that events began to move.
Campaigners argue one of the central questions for any inquiry is why proper action only appeared to follow the High Court challenge when earlier complaints from doctors and parents had failed to secure intervention.
ATN said: “Any parent who has experienced the pain of seeing their child harmed will understand how I feel. There is nothing worse than witnessing someone inflict damage upon your child.”
He added: “What has happened here is profound harm: the stripping away of a child’s health, a normal youth, and their future of a fulfilled adult life.”
Dr Louise Irvine, co-chair of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, backed calls for an inquiry.
Dr Louise Irvine, co-Chair of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender said: “I agree there needs to be a public inquiry. We need to understand how this happened. Regulators have known for at least 6 years the WellBN clinic issued inappropriate hormone treatment to children and multiple complaints to various regulators were all ignored or dismissed.”
Dr Irvine said she believed ideological assumptions surrounding gender medicine may have contributed to concerns being overlooked and argued an inquiry was needed to establish how such practices were effectively given the “nod of approval.”
Paul Conrathe, of Conrathe Gardner LLP, said: “We welcome the IPSI report, but questions must be asked about how the practices could have been allowed to continue for more than five years in the face of grave complaints, warnings and alarm bells.”
He added: “Whistleblowers did what they are meant to do but were ignored and their concerns brushed under the carpet for fear of treading into the territory of gender ideology.”
“When both parents and senior physicians are raising major concerns and nothing happens, we know there’s a systemic problem.”
Adrian Hart, co-founder of PSHE Brighton, a campaign group which supports parents of gender-distressed children, said: “One child being harmed is too many.”
He added: “Harm has been happening in plain sight; the wilful ignorance of public sector bodies needs to end. It’s imperative there is a proper investigation into how this has been allowed to happen.”
The row comes amid a wider reckoning over children’s gender services following the publication of the landmark Cass Review in April 2024.
Led by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, the review concluded there was a lack of reliable evidence for many medical interventions used in gender-distressed children and criticised what it described as an “exceptionally weak” evidence base.
Since then, the Government has backed restrictions on the routine use of puberty blockers for under-18s outside clinical research, while Health Secretary Wes Streeting has repeatedly said children’s gender care must be grounded in evidence and patient safety.
The WellBN case has emerged as one of the first major tests of whether those lessons were being followed in parts of the NHS outside the former specialist gender clinic system.
The claimants have now given the Health Secretary until July 9 to agree to establish an independent inquiry.
If he refuses, they intend to launch judicial review proceedings in an attempt to force ministers to act.
The claimants state: “Despite the father’s remonstrations with the GP and with the surgery and his complaints to the Brighton & Hove Council, the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, the GMC and the ICB, nothing was done.”
It was only after ATN launched judicial review proceedings in February 2025 that events began to move.
Campaigners argue one of the central questions for any inquiry is why proper action only appeared to follow the High Court challenge when earlier complaints from doctors and parents had failed to secure intervention.
ATN said: “Any parent who has experienced the pain of seeing their child harmed will understand how I feel. There is nothing worse than witnessing someone inflict damage upon your child.”
He added: “What has happened here is profound harm: the stripping away of a child’s health, a normal youth, and their future of a fulfilled adult life.”
Dr Louise Irvine, co-chair of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, backed calls for an inquiry.
Dr Louise Irvine, co-Chair of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender said: “I agree there needs to be a public inquiry. We need to understand how this happened. Regulators have known for at least 6 years the WellBN clinic issued inappropriate hormone treatment to children and multiple complaints to various regulators were all ignored or dismissed.”
Dr Irvine said she believed ideological assumptions surrounding gender medicine may have contributed to concerns being overlooked and argued an inquiry was needed to establish how such practices were effectively given the “nod of approval.”
Paul Conrathe, of Conrathe Gardner LLP, said: “We welcome the IPSI report, but questions must be asked about how the practices could have been allowed to continue for more than five years in the face of grave complaints, warnings and alarm bells.”
He added: “Whistleblowers did what they are meant to do but were ignored and their concerns brushed under the carpet for fear of treading into the territory of gender ideology.”
“When both parents and senior physicians are raising major concerns and nothing happens, we know there’s a systemic problem.”
Adrian Hart, co-founder of PSHE Brighton, a campaign group which supports parents of gender-distressed children, said: “One child being harmed is too many.”
He added: “Harm has been happening in plain sight; the wilful ignorance of public sector bodies needs to end. It’s imperative there is a proper investigation into how this has been allowed to happen.”
The row comes amid a wider reckoning over children’s gender services following the publication of the landmark Cass Review in April 2024.
Led by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, the review concluded there was a lack of reliable evidence for many medical interventions used in gender-distressed children and criticised what it described as an “exceptionally weak” evidence base.
Since then, the Government has backed restrictions on the routine use of puberty blockers for under-18s outside clinical research, while Health Secretary Wes Streeting has repeatedly said children’s gender care must be grounded in evidence and patient safety.
The WellBN case has emerged as one of the first major tests of whether those lessons were being followed in parts of the NHS outside the former specialist gender clinic system.
The claimants have now given the Health Secretary until July 9 to agree to establish an independent inquiry.
If he refuses, they intend to launch judicial review proceedings in an attempt to force ministers to act.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The care provided by this GP practice was wholly unacceptable.
“Vulnerable children have been let down and have been put at risk.
“It is vital these families receive the support they need and we are working with NHS England to ensure the affected families receive this from the (health board) ICB going forward.
“Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children and young people with gender dysphoria is vital and should always be led by clinical evidence.”
WellBN declined to comment.