Gender doctor who 'failed' patients given just two month suspension

Doctor who ran clinic for transgender children and ‘failed’ an 11-year-old transitioning from female to male by not fully explaining drugs could make them infertile is suspended for just two months

• Helen Webberley was suspended for two months for gender treatment failures
• She was said to not have provided follow-up care to two children on testosterone
• She also failed an 11-year-old by not explaining effects of puberty blockers on fertility to the patient
• Her husband Michael was struck off for putting patients at risk of serious harm
• Michael diagnosed ‘Patient W’ as gender dysphoric without consulting their GP
• ‘Patient W’ later killed themself after while transitioning from female to male 

A doctor who ran an online clinic for transgender patients has been suspended from practising for two months.

Helen Webberley, founder of the GenderGP website, was found to have committed serious misconduct by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel.

The tribunal, which started to hear evidence in July last year, found she had not provided proper follow-up care to two patients, aged 12 and 17, who were prescribed testosterone, and failed an 11-year-old patient by omitting to discuss risks to fertility before prescribing GnHRa, or puberty blockers.

Helen Webberley, founder of the GenderGP website, was found to have committed serious misconduct by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel

On Thursday the panel, chaired by Angus Macpherson, found Dr Webberley should be suspended for two months.

He said: ‘The period of suspension which the tribunal considers it should impose is that period which allows Dr Webberley the opportunity to demonstrate her level of insight into this aspect of the tribunal’s finding of impairment.

‘The tribunal has determined, therefore, to suspend Dr Webberley’s registration for a period of two months.

‘The tribunal considered that this period will allow Dr Webberley sufficient time to demonstrate whether she has the necessary insight into the concerns identified by this tribunal and that she has remediated her shortcomings.

‘It is also the shortest practical period to make arrangements for a review hearing to take place.’

On Thursday the panel, chaired by Angus Macpherson, found Dr Webberley should be suspended for two months

Dr Webberley, from Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales, was convicted in 2018 of running an independent medical agency without being registered

Dr Webberley, from Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales, was convicted in 2018 of running an independent medical agency without being registered.

The tribunal found her fitness to practise was impaired by reason of her conviction, her misconduct and on wider public interest grounds.

In its findings, the panel said the failure to provide adequate follow-up care put two patients, transitioning from female to male, at ‘unwarranted risk of harm’.

It said: ‘In the tribunal’s view an informed member of the public would be surprised if a finding of impairment on public interest grounds were not made in those circumstances.

‘It therefore finds that Dr Webberley’s fitness to practise is impaired on wider public interest grounds.’

Earlier this year, the panel found more than 30 allegations brought by the General Medical Council (GMC) against the doctor were proved.

However, the panel said the doctor was competent to provide treatment to transgender people and found 83 allegations not proved.

Dr Webberley’s husband, Dr Michael Webberley, who ran GenderGP with her, was struck off earlier this year after a tribunal found he failed to provide good clinical care to 24 patients and put patients at risk of serious harm.

A 17-year-patient – known as Patient W – was transitioning from female to male and first contacted Dr Webberley in June 2018.

Dr Michael Webberley, who spent 34 years working for the NHS, provided puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones via GenderGP, an online gender clinic which he ran with his GP wife Dr Helen Webberley (couple pictured together)

Pictured: Jayden Lowe, a transgender teenager who took his own life in 2018 by stepping in front of a train after being prescribed hormone treatment by GenderGP

A coroner ruled that Lowe had committed suicide months after receiving the treatment

The patient had become unhappy at the long waiting lists for NHS treatment and said in an email that they wanted to transition as soon as possible as it would have a ‘massively positive impact’ on their mental health.

‘I have been waiting to go on hormones so long now and it means so much to me,’ they added. ‘I am so happy it is finally happening.’

But Dr Webberley diagnosed Patient W as gender dysphoric without checking information with their GP.

The tribunal also found that he prescribed testosterone when it wasn’t clinically indicated and without establishing whether the risks were lower than the risks to the patient’s mental and physical health.

Patient W had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and had ‘complex’ and long-standing mental health issues but it ‘did not appear’ that Dr Webberley was aware of them and he’d failed to obtain the patient’s medical records, the tribunal concluded.

Sadly, Patient W took their own life just three months later.

Patient W is believed to be Jayden Lowe, who was prescribed the treatment by the GenderGP clinic and subsequently stepped in front of a train.

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