Puberty Blockers Clinical Trial

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. First, I should acknowledge that, having been steeped in this issue for many years, I know James Esses, the therapist who organised this petition. He, the formidable Keira Bell and the Bayswater Support Group have managed to halt this trial, so no children are to be recruited until the High Court makes its decision, until at least July.

It is clear that we are talking about an extremely vulnerable cohort of children. Recently, James told MPs and peers that, first and foremost, most of his patients—almost all of them, in fact—are autistic. As recognised by the Cass review, children or adolescents on the autism spectrum experience difficulties with social belonging and can be particularly sensitive to seeking affirmation from others. James explained to us that many of his patients rely on rigid and regressive stereotypes, including the trope that a preference for activities or even friendships associated with the opposite sex must mean that they actually are that sex. That is the basic foundation for the so-called gender critical movement: a rejection of labelling, and the pigeonholing or aggressive stereotyping of what constitutes boy or girl behaviours, clothes preferences or activities.

For over 20 years, medical professionals voicing their sound judgment and concern about ethics and child safeguarding at the Tavistock were ignored, their concerns buried and they themselves punished, sidelined and vilified for challenging an entirely ideological project. It is thanks to medical professionals such as Sue and Marcus Evans, Dr David Taylor, Dr David Bell and Sonia Appleby, to name just a few brave medics, and the committed reporting of journalists such as Hannah Barnes and Julie Bindel that we are having this debate today. In all the years I have been actively campaigning against the impossible notion that anyone is born in the wrong body, I have been labelled far-right, bigoted, transphobic and all kinds of other ridiculous slurs that would be unparliamentary to repeat here. We must stop this trial because of the incredibly vulnerable cohort of children as young as 12 who cannot possibly give consent.

Meningitis Outbreak

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. I did not respond to a linked question from the shadow Secretary of State earlier, so let me let me respond to both questions now.

All cases are currently being treated as being connected with the Club Chemistry incident and cluster, but we are not taking that for granted: we remain open-minded and assess it continually as information comes in from patients and their families, which can take time because they are often very sick. Via the UKHSA, we are providing the opening times and locations of the four hubs. If people fear that they have been in close contact and are worried about the risk to themselves, they can come forward for antibiotics, which will be made available to them.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

I thank the Secretary of State and his team for their engagement with this awful situation in Canterbury. As he can imagine, all in my constituency have been devastated by the tragic death of Juliette Kenny and another student from this cruel disease, and I thank my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately), for her lovely tribute to my constituent.

We have been inundated by questions from extremely worried constituents, and the Secretary of State has answered some of them in his statement. The main question has been about the roll-out of the vaccine, and I was really pleased to hear that that will happen soon. Worried parents and vulnerable students are telling me that communications from their education settings are not consistently clear, and one school has been closed to those in year 13. What is the Secretary of State’s message about attendance in person?

There are reports from medics on the frontline in the hubs that the service has been overwhelmed by requests for antibiotics, with people presenting with mild colds and coughs. Will the Secretary of State make very clear once again exactly why and when people should turn up? The time for addressing the concerns about the roll-out of information is not now, but hopefully we can drill down on that when this horrible event is over.

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the hon. Member for her proactive approach over the weekend and in recent days, given the impact that this is having on her constituency and the devastating impact on her constituents. Let me reassure her about two things.

First, we are not advising that there should be school closures. I think it important once again to underscore the nature of the transmission of this disease, which is close personal contact, such as kissing, sharing vapes—which I am concerned about in the context of young people—and sharing drinks. Obviously, if people live together in a household, some of those things are even more likely to occur, but the general risk is low. I want people to think carefully about their own situation, but they should not be unnecessarily worried or anxious.

Secondly, on antibiotics access, students at schools who have had close contact with those who were at Club Chemistry can attend the sites that provide antibiotics. That message went out to all Kent schools this morning, so hopefully there will be an improvement in the flow and accuracy of information going to schools.

The hon. Member was absolutely right to say that once this incident has passed we will need to look back and reflect on what was done and when, and what we can learn from that. At the same time, I am keen to ensure that we are listening, getting active feedback from Members across the House, and improving in real time as well. We will keep these channels open, not just through questions today but through briefings with Members, so that we can get feedback from local elected representatives, which in the hon. Member’s case and others has been extremely valuable.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Gentleman should absolutely make representations to his local ICB if he has concerns about service reconfigurations. We are investing more in the NHS, but I recognise that there are none the less big challenges for ICBs to face. I am sure that the ICB would be happy to meet him to hear his concerns.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

3. What discussions he has had with King’s College London on the compliance of the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial with the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004.

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

The PATHWAYS trial has undergone a thorough independent review and has received all the regulatory and ethical approvals. The sponsors of the study, King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS foundation trust, are working to ensure that it is conducted in compliance with the relevant regulations.

[Rosie Duffield]

The United States Department of Health and Human Services’ peer-reviewed report found that harms from paediatric medical transition are significant, long term and too often ignored and inadequately tracked, as testified by Keira Bell, who is here in Parliament today. What is the Government’s rationale behind medicalising yet more vulnerable children, given that we have no evidence of any benefit to this approach and, in fact, plenty of evidence of harm?

[Karin Smyth]

As the hon. Lady knows, the Government are acting on the recommendations of the excellent report from Hilary Cass, which I think she would agree is world-leading evidence, and moving the model away from medical intervention towards a more holistic approach to care. The Government will continue to be guided by that evidence, as the whole House will appreciate. The hon. Lady referenced Keira Bell, and I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill) has asked the Secretary of State to meet clinicians and others who disagree with the trial. That meeting is being arranged, and we will continue to work under the guidelines for clinical evidence.

Women’s Health

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) on securing this debate, which is one of only a handful to tackle women’s health in general. Since I came to this place, a big focus for me has been women’s health, whether it is the devastating and shocking findings of the Kirkup review of East Kent Hospitals maternity care; the setting up of the APPG for birth trauma; the plight of women who now have no recourse to any healthcare or medical treatment in Afghanistan; the women whose health and wellbeing means precisely nothing to the warring factions in places such as Tigray; the tenacious mothers who have tirelessly fought for changes to sodium valproate labelling; female cancers; vaginal mesh; menopause; the mental stress and health toll on WASPI—Women Against State Pension Inequality —or 1950s women; female genital mutilation; or domestic abuse survivors. All of those and so many more are health issues that affect the majority of the population, who are female. And for the avoidance of doubt, let me be clear: by female I mean women, adult human females, the kind who have a cervix and who definitely do not have a penis.

Despite women being 51% of the population, women’s health services are frequently deprioritised, with the healthcare model based on a default male, and women existing within a system built around men. The inequalities in health outcomes between men and women are scandalous. Compared with men, women are more likely to experience common mental health conditions, more likely to be misdiagnosed, more likely to receive less pain medication after identical procedures and more likely to be undertreated for pain by doctors.

A perfect example of how women must exist within a healthcare system built for men is that of heart attacks. I have recent experience of this, with my dear friend Nicky Clark experiencing a heart attack in January. She is now tirelessly campaigning, because compared with men, women are less likely to be admitted to hospital when they complain of chest pain and they have more than double the rate of death within 30 days following a heart attack. Medical professionals know that heart attacks present very differently in women, compared with men, and yet the classic symptoms listed in campaigns are specific to men only.

Recent trends in the collection of data highlight how vital the accurate recording of this is in a medical context. Women’s health issues all arise from our specific biology. A man cannot get ovarian cancer and a woman cannot get prostate cancer, for example. It may be considered good manners, kind and courteous to refer to those who identify as a different gender in the way they prefer, but for the specific purposes of recording vital and potentially lifesaving data, we must accurately record patients’ biological sex. Otherwise, trans patients may miss being called for screening for sex-specific conditions, and that has potentially fatal consequences. That has been highlighted by Professor Alice Sullivan, who was commissioned by the last Government to tackle the issue of recording sex data, including in the NHS. Her review is due to be published, and I would be grateful if the Government could confirm the date for that as soon as possible.

In the last seven years, we have had seven Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care. It is very hard to get even on the second rung of a ladder when we have to start all over again with explanations, evidence and examples relating to a campaign or specific health issue every few months because the departmental personnel and teams change so often, so women here will keep campaigning and holding debates to push women’s health further up the agenda. I will keep working with the Birth Trauma Association, the MASIC Foundation and others to help to end the postcode lottery and extreme inequalities for black and south Asian mothers experiencing what should be straightforward and perfectly safe childbirth. I again thank all those parliamentarians, campaigners and activists who just will not take no for an answer and who fight every day to bring about better experiences for other women.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the issue is key, and that the results are worrying. I know how proud my friends and family members were to become nurses, and what a great career nursing offered them. We have to deliver on the promise of a good career, and build on that pride in being a nurse. We absolutely recognise that we cannot rebuild the NHS without their skills and their high-quality critical and compassionate care.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

Does the Minister believe that the NHS should expect biologically female nursing staff to get changed in front of biologically male colleagues who identify as female?

[Karin Smyth]

No.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne]

My hon. Friend raises a really important point. NHS England is due to complete a stocktake of long covid services throughout England at the end of this month. That will provide an accurate in-depth overview of not only long covid services but ME/CFS—myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome—services. The stocktake will provide a comprehensive and accurate national picture, identify key challenges and make strategic recommendations for future service improvement, development and assurance.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

T4. Since 2017 I have been raising the crisis facing East Kent hospitals university NHS foundation trust. Seven different Health Secretaries across those seven years have promised much but delivered nothing at all. Patients continue to face unacceptably long waits on trolleys in corridors, and last month the Kent Online paper compared these conditions to a war zone, with an average of 40 very ill patients a day facing more than 12-hour waits. Will the Secretary of State meet me and the CEO of our trust, who is desperate for even the most basic diagnostic equipment, to ensure that this does not continue to be the case for another seven years?

[Wes Streeting]

Yes, I or the Minister of State for Health would be delighted to meet the hon. Member. She is right to describe the scale of challenge in urgent and emergency care. Of course, there are other challenges in east Kent, particularly in maternity services, which I am acutely aware of too, and I would be delighted to work with her to help solve some of those challenges in her community.