Welsh puberty blocker ban unlawful – Plaid MS

The Welsh Conservatives backed the Welsh government position, however.

NHS England announced in March 2024 they would not be routinely prescribed, and in December a ban on private prescriptions was made permanent by the UK government Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) has also recommended indefinite restrictions, saying there was an “unacceptable safety risk” in the continued prescription.

The drugs are now only available if a patient is a part of a clinical trial, which the UK government has promised, or if a patient was already receiving them.

The Welsh government also introduced regulations last year restricting their prescription by Welsh NHS GPs.

In December former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price attempted to have the regulations scrapped, raising concerns ministers had not followed a legal obligation to “give due regard” to the UN Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, enshrined in Welsh law in 2011.

Price, in a Senedd debate, said no impact assessment was written – something the government’s own guidelines says officials should use to ensure ministers follow the law.

Price told BBC Wales: “I think it is clear that the government have acted unlawfully.

“They need to set out with some urgency how they intend to rectify this mistake, and most importantly, engage meaningfully with this group of children and young people whose rights deserve to be respected and whose voices should be heard.”

He argued that children and young people might have been able to raise the absence of a clinical trial.

Asked if he was opposed to the ban, Price said it was not for him “to give a view on a clinical question”.

“The question here is whether the proper legal process was followed, and whether the rights of those children and young people were fully respected, and whether their voices were heard.”