GenderGP trans clinic moving to Spain after UK suspends doctors
Dr Mike Webberley and Dr Helen Webberley (GenderGP)
GenderGP, a transgender health clinic relied on by 1,600 patients, will relocate from the UK to Spain after the doctors running it were suspended by the General Medical Council.
The GenderGP service was set up by married GPs Mike and Helen Webberley to cater for transgender patients who are unable to get appointments on the NHS due to spiralling backlogs.
General Medical Council suspends doctors running UK trans clinic
1,600 patients in the UK rely on the service to receive hormones and other treatment, but its future was thrown into doubt this month due to intervention from the General Medical Council.
The regulator suspended Dr Mike Webberley on May 16, after it was judged that the care provided “fell below the standards expected” in the treatment of three transgender patients prescribed puberty blockers and hormones.
Dr Mike Webberley (GenderGP)
As Dr Helen Webberley was previously handed a temporary suspension in 2017, the action against her husband left GenderGP with no doctor able to treat patients in the UK.
However, the pair have vowed to continue, and are in the process of relocating their service to Malaga in Spain.
GenderGP service will continue, vow doctors
In a statement, Dr Helen Webberley said: “Mike and I are unable to prescribe any more but we have taken safe and secure steps to make sure that nobody is without care while we wait for the NHS to step up to the mark.
“We have moved the management hub of GenderGP and the medical care outside of the UK until it is safe to bring it back.
“Your medication will continue, nobody will come to harm.”
— GenderGP
“Our European doctors have been specially trained to advise and prescribe for [patients, via] the GenderGP appraisal pathway that has become so popular and well-respected.”
The clinic sent a message to patients assuring them: “Your medication will continue, nobody will come to harm.”
Dr Helen Webberley added: “Trans patients have the same right to free care as any other patient group does.
“Care should be provided for simple cases by your GP, more complicated cases at your local hospital, and severely complicated issues by specialist centres. Gender Dysphoria is not a complex medical problem.
“Your doctors should take steps to educate and inform themselves so that they can safely provide you with care. Until they do, we will help you in every way we can.”
GenderGP clarified: “It is important to note that the GMC investigations into Drs Helen and Mike Webberley are still ongoing, and no definitive conclusions have been made.”
The GMC’s register states that Dr Mike Webberley and Dr Helen Webberley are both “suspended from the Medical Register and may not practise as a doctor in the UK.”
