‘Cowboy’ trans care clinic run by ex-NHS GP and self-styled ‘champion of LGBT rights’ is based in Singapore… where children can’t get powerful puberty blockers and same-sex marriage is banned

A private clinic offering puberty blockers to British children unsure of their gender has been registered in Singapore – where the powerful drugs are not given to children.

GenderGP is led by Dr Helen Webberley, an ex-NHS GP who describes herself as a ‘champion of LGBTQ+ healthcare rights and inclusivity’.

Critics told MailOnline that GenderGP has broken any ‘pretense’ that it cares about these rights by setting up shop in the South-East Asian country.

Her company, which prides itself on helping everyone ‘no matter how old they are’, is advertising its £270 puberty blocking injections online, despite campaigners calling for urgent action against ‘cowboy clinics’.

Children can no longer get the drugs on the NHS after a landmark ruling last month, meaning they will have to go privately to get them.

Health chiefs said there was no evidence that the drugs, which stop physical changes of puberty such as breast development and facial hair growth, were safe or effective.

Ministers have since vowed to ‘look carefully’ at imposing a ban on private clinics after a shocking report from expert pediatrician Dr Hilary Cass raised concerns about their behaviour.

In the wake of the review, a defiant GenderGP said children will ‘suffer and die’ if the Cass review’s recommendations are followed.

GenderGP is an offshore organization registered in Singapore does not recognize gay marriage.

The island state only repealed a ban on sex between men in 2022.

Singapore also does not allow under-18s to be given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on the NHS equivalent.

However, children can receive hormones privately from the age of 16.

Because it is based outside Britain, it does not need to be registered with the regulatory body, the Care Quality Commission.

The groundbreaking Cass review into gender care for children in Britain put services like Dr Webberley’s under the microscope.

Led by expert pediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, the damning study found that children were being set on a path of irreversible change, despite ‘remarkably weak evidence’ supporting medical treatments such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

In Dr.’s review Cass was also cited for private services, finding that GPs had been ‘pressured to prescribe hormones’ by patients who had seen a private doctor.

The report, which ran to almost 400 pages, issued a stern warning about ‘the use of unregulated medicines and from providers who are not regulated in Britain’.

Dr. Cass said GPs should resist attempts by private providers to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones, ‘particularly if that private provider is acting outside NHS guidelines’.

British advocacy group LGB Alliance chief executive Kate Barker told MailOnline: ‘Unregulated private clinics that sell puberty blockers to these children are profiting from their confusion.

“Any pretense of ‘caring’ is refuted by the hypocrisy of registering a clinic in a tax haven that is actively hostile to gay rights.”

Doctor Webberley’s GenderGP offers a range of treatments to young people who have doubts about their gender identity.

The website states that there is no strict age criterion for the assessment and that parental consent is not required.

However, it does add that children do not require medical intervention until they reach a certain stage of puberty.

It uses EU-based prescribers to issue scripts for drugs such as puberty blockers and hormones that are valid in Britain under a post-Brexit deal.

This allows patients, even children, to bypass NHS guidelines on who should receive these drugs.

The F&Q page, which explains the system, states that UK pharmacies ‘must not refuse to dispense such scripts’ without ‘good reason’.

In the wake of the Cass review, GenderGP has issued a defiant message via social media, claiming that children will die if the recommended measures are implemented in the NHS.

“We know that children and young people will suffer and die if these recommendations are implemented,” it wrote in a message shared by Dr Webberley himself.

It further said: ‘GenderGP will continue to provide support to all people of any age who are transgender and seeking gender-affirming care.’

GenderGP described itself as “owned by Singapore-based GenderGP PTE Ltd, a global organization that provides advocacy services to LGBTQI+ people around the world.”

The website does not refer to LGBT rights in the host country.

Dr. Webberley is no stranger to controversy, which he has previously celebrated news that 70 children aged three and four had been referred to the NHS for gender treatment.

In 2018, she was convicted of running an independent medical agency without registration and fined £12,000.

Later in 2022, she was suspended by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) over a series of charges, including failing to provide proper clinical care in 2016 to three female patients aged 11, 12 and 17, who transitioned to boys.

GenderGP’s headquarters in Singapore, where the company distributes controversial drugs to young people in Britain

In its decision, the panel found that 36 allegations, including failure to provide adequate aftercare to a 12-year-old who had been prescribed testosterone, had been proven.

Dr. Webberley was suspended for two months by the MPTS, but promised to challenge the ruling.

A year later, in 2023, the suspension was overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the MPTS panel was “confused, clearly wrong in some places, and omitted reference to important evidence.”

Research showed that Dr. Webberley had been suspended on an interim basis since May 2017 for patient safety reasons.

The profession allowed Dr. Webberley to continue his practice without any restrictions.

But the same is not true for her husband and former doctor Michael Webberley.

An MPTS tribunal struck him off the UK medical register in 2022 over what it called a “catalogue of failings” relating to his care of the seven patients between February 2017 and June 2019.

One was just nine years old and the other, a teenager, committed suicide in the months that followed.

Mr Webberley was found to have administered treatment to all seven patients that was not clinically indicated or prescribed without adequate testing, investigations or assessment.

Michael Webberley was struck off the UK medical register due to a ‘catalogue of failings’ relating to his care of the seven patients between February 2017 and June 2019

He had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria – ‘a feeling of discomfort that someone may have because of the discrepancy between their biological sex and their gender identity’, according to the NHS – on the basis of inadequate information and failed to obtain informed consent from patients.

The tribunal also found that as a gastroenterologist he had acted ‘beyond the limits of his expertise’ and failed to establish multidisciplinary teams.

In a number of cases, Mr Webberley had cared for patients after restrictions were imposed on his wife’s practice.

The most concerning case involved a 17-year-old patient referred to in the proceedings as ‘Patient W’ who contacted Mr Webberley in 2018.

They had been left unhappy by long waiting lists for treatment on the NHS and said in an email that they wanted to switch as soon as possible as it would have a ‘hugely positive impact’ on their mental health.

“I’ve been waiting so long to start taking hormones and it means so much to me,” she added. “I’m so happy it’s finally happening.”

Dr. Webberley diagnosed patient W as gender dysphoric without consulting his GP.

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

Patient W had been diagnosed with Asperger’s and had ‘complex’ and long-term mental health problems, but it ‘did not appear’ that Mr Webberley was aware of this, and he had failed to access the patient’s medical records the tribunal concluded.

Patient W died by suicide just three months later.

MailOnline approached Dr. Webberley and GenderGP for comments.