A DOCTOR who provides puberty blockers for trans children through her offshore clinic has had her licence to practise in the UK withdrawn by medical authorities.

Dr Helen Webberley from Abergavenny was suspended by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service prior to and after a fitness to practise hearing in 2022, but the misconduct ruling relating to the treatment of three trans children was overturned at the High Court last year.

Her husband Dr Michael Webberley - a former consultant gastroenterologist at Nevill Hall, who co-founded the GenderGP online clinic with his wife in 2015 - was struck off in 2022 over his treatment of trans children.

And the GMC has now withdrawn her licence to practise as part of a process doctors have to undergo every five years.

She says it will not affect her work promoting trans rights and welfare, but has labelled the decision to revoke her licence as "heartbreaking".

Dr Webberley claims that owing to being suspended during the GMC probe and ruling from 2017 to 2023, she lost her connection with the NHS or other designated bodies who sign off the revalidation.

And told to take a GP exam or one for newly qualified medical students instead, with no exam covering trans treatment, she says neither were appropriate given she no longer practises as a GP and hadn't studied surgery, orthopaedics and pathology since 1992.

“I fought incredibly hard to keep my licence, both for myself and also for the community, because it’s important to set precedent," she said.

"Now to have it taken away on a technicality, if you like, is very heartbreaking, but I will continue my work as I have done.”

Posting on the GenderGP website – which she moved to Spain in 2019 after being fined £12,000 by a UK court for running an unlicensed clinic, and is now based in Singapore – Dr Webberley added: "I had the choice to sit an exam and risk failing, which would have resulted in my license being withdrawn.

"Alternatively, I could choose not to book an exam and let the Registrar decide on an individual basis whether my license should be withdrawn.

"I opted for the latter, and the GMC’s decision is to withdraw my license on 19 July 2024...

"I fiercely fought to keep my license to practise during my GMC investigation process.

"Still, even after the High Court declared me safe to practise, the GMC has chosen to withdrawal my license. That saddens me greatly, but my work will continue."

And she says that despite being unable to prescribe and give individual, personalised medical advice, she will focus her working life on continuing to promote trans health care and rights.

"In 2015, I pledged that I would use my skills, knowledge, education, and position to enhance the health options available to transgender people in the UK and across the world," she says.

"I have seen the pain, heartache, and damage that negative medical attitudes and practices have on trans people.

"For that reason, I maintain that I will give the rest of my professional career to changing that."

GenderGP assesses adults and children wanting to transition and refers them to doctors in the European Economic Area (EEA) for hormone prescriptions, including puberty blockers for children.

The Cass report into the nation's gender services earlier this year said there was insufficient evidence to support the safe or effective use of puberty blockers and trans drugs for children.

That prompted the then Tory Government to pass a three-month ban on doctors prescribing the controversial hormone therapy until September 3.

And new Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said he is minded to make the ban permanent, which also prevents doctors overseas directly prescribing to patients in the UK.

But Dr Webberley, who is still registered as a doctor despite losing her license to practise, has said the report ignored evidence from the world’s medical experts in transgender health.

A spokesperson for the GMC said, “Every licensed doctor must take part in the revalidation process, which provides assurance that they are keeping their knowledge up to date, are fit to practise and that no concerns have been raised about them.

“Doctors who do not have a connection to a designated body or suitable person are able to revalidate in a number of ways, including by passing a written multiple choice test called a revalidation assessment.

“There are twelve assessments to choose from, and doctors are encouraged to choose one closest to their most recent area of specialty. We cannot tailor assessments to every doctor’s specific area of practice.

“If doctors do not comply with our guidance on revalidation without reasonable excuse, we may withdraw their licence to practise.’