NHS England
NHS England is the organisation that oversees public healthcare in England and commissions specialised care, including gender care for children and young people. In March 2025, the British government announced that NHS England would be abolished and merged into the Department of Health.
The main article on this subject is Gender Care in the United Kingdom.
What you can find
The website contains policy documents, clinical policies for commissioning care, consultations and news.
Why it is on this list
In 2020, NHS England commissioned the Cass Review. In March 2024, the organisation decided that puberty blockers would no longer be routinely prescribed to minors with gender dysphoria; they are now available only as part of scientific research. There is a separate article on cross-sex hormones: NHS England withdraws cross-sex hormones for minors. The Tavistock gender clinic (GIDS) closed in 2024 and was replaced by regional centres. See the overview of policy by country for more information.
Organisation and abolition
NHS England was established on 31 October 2011 and became an independent public body on 1 April 2013. It was initially called the NHS Commissioning Board. Its headquarters are in Leeds. Under the Health and Care Act 2022, NHS Improvement, NHS Digital and Health Education England, among others, were incorporated into the organisation. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced its abolition on 13 March 2025. The transition to the Department of Health was expected to take approximately two years. For readers, this means that policy documents on gender care may eventually be housed under the department and that website addresses may change.
Implementation of the Cass Review
The review was commissioned in September 2020 and given to retired paediatrician Hilary Cass. The interim report was published in March 2022 and the final report on 10 April 2024. In April 2024, two new services opened in North West England and London, intended to be the first of up to eight regional centres. In August 2024, the referral pathway changed: only NHS paediatricians and child and adolescent mental health services can now make referrals; GPs can no longer do so. Research into puberty blockers is being conducted through the Pathways study, led by Emily Simonoff of King's College London. Preparations for the study were halted in February 2026 after the medicines regulator MHRA raised new concerns about participants' welfare. In June 2026, the MHRA approved an amended protocol. Recruitment was not expected to begin before 1 August 2026 because of ongoing legal proceedings. The judge dismissed the case; see the report on the puberty blocker trial involving 226 children. NHS England subsequently also commissioned a review of adult care.
How to assess this source
NHS England's documents are primary sources: they show what was actually decided. The supporting evidence can be found in the evidence reviews by NICE and in the systematic reviews by the University of York. The policy is not without controversy; critics, including WPATH and researchers from Yale, have raised objections to the Cass Review.