UK paediatrician Hilary Cass, whose review of the NHS gender services led to the country’s puberty blockers ban, is facing a formal complaint after her interview with the BBC was criticised for “misleading” claims on trans issues.

Over the weekend, Cass appeared on the BBC’s show Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, where she said that trans youth had been “weaponised” by both sides of a “toxic” debate. Cass also claimed that the increase in the number of children experiencing gender dysphoria was due to social media and gender stereotypes, and that only a “tiny number” remain trans in adulthood.

Following the interview, activists and medical experts have spoken out against Cass’s claims, condemning them as “misleading” and based on “falsehoods”. British physician, Dr Helen Webberley, also denounced Cass’s conduct during the BBC interview, saying she had filed a formal complaint against the paediatrician.

In a blog post shared on February 16, Webberley said that, in her work on trans healthcare, Cass has violated several of the GMC’s Good Medical Practice standards, which all medical professionals are expected to meet.

Webberley highlighted that Cass is “not a gender specialist, has no clinical experience in this field, and has no research history or publications in transgender healthcare”. She also added that the British Medical Council (BMC) assessed the Cass Review and found that it had a “high risk of bias”.

“I do not do this lightly,” Webberly wrote in her blog post. “Referring a fellow doctor to the GMC is one of the most serious steps any medical professional can take. But yesterday’s interview crystallised for me exactly why this referral is necessary.

“The pattern of conduct I have documented is not historical. It is ongoing, and it is happening on the biggest platforms in the country,” she said.

Published in 2024, the Cass Review made several recommendations to restructure England’s gender service system. The study led to a ban being placed on prescribing puberty blockers to trans youth in the UK, a move which sparked widespread outrage.

The Cass Review has also faced significant criticism from international medical bodies, including the British Medical Association and the World Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). It has been widely criticised for not including relevant research and for contravening “standard practice in scientific evaluations of medical research”.