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NHS Sussex Investigation seeks to access trans children’s full medical records without consent
- TERF Watch Brighton
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
The Investigation was announced on June 5th by NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board, to look into under-18s recieving gender affirming care at WellBN general practice.
The Investigation was brought following threats of a judicial review brought by the father of a child treated at WellBN and Solicitor Paul Conrathe who previously represented Keira Bell. TERF Watch understands no issues have been found in regards to this child by relevant regulators.
As part of the investigation, trans children recieving care will be transferred to other NHS services, in all cases having care retracted.
The Terms of Reference, set to be released publicly later this month, but now shared by Trans Kids Deserve Better, reveal that a vast amount of medical and personal information has been requested for each child, and that NHS England and Sussex ICB decided the “risk of ongoing harm” great enough to access patient information without individual consent.
TERF Watch understands WellBN are refusing to actively comply, and that many patients have notes on file expressly rejecting participation in the investigation. It is unknown if this will be respected.
“Harm”
The investigation’s analysis of harms done rely entirly on the widely medically discredited Cass Review.
The Terms of Reference do not refer to any cases where harm has actually been reported.
The Terms of Reference claim, citing the Cass Review, that without a months long, multi-disciplinary assessment process, there is risk of “failure to diagnose other underlying conditions,” “premature and inexorable committment to a medical pathway” and “loss of body autonomy later in life.”
The investigation frequently makes reference to the possibility of children treated by WellBN being neurodiverse, referencing anti-trans stereotypes and ablist implications that neurodiverse people have different capacities for body autonomy.
Sam Hall Ousted
TERF Watch understands Sam Hall GP, former GP partner at WellBN, has been ousted from WellBN in relation to this investigation.
We understand that the rest of the trans health hub team remain present and that care of adults will continue.
In a statement on July 1, in relation to the investigation, WellBN said “It is important to be clear that all other services provided by the surgery, including adult (over 18) gender services, are unaffected.”
Edit as of 18/07:
WellBN have released a statement dated July 1st, but only published on Thursday the 17th, saying “Dr. Sam Hall, a respected and beloved member of our team, resigned from his partnership at WellBN in September 2024. His final day working with us was on 30th June 2025, following a nine-month notice period.”
TERF Watch understands this to be accurate, but missing key information. We stand by our original characterization.
Follow Up
TERF Watch has, last week, submitted a Freedom of Information request to Sussex ICB asking for Impact assessments related to their decision to pause new NHS prescriptions for gender affirming care for under 18s in April 2025 and related to the investigation.
TERF Watch has now submitted FOIs asking:
1. Please provide the relevant policies that enables NHS England and Sussex ICB to initiate case note review without individual consent.
2. Please state whether case note review will occur where there exists specific notes on the patients' record against consenting to case note review.
3. Please provide the Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment and Quality Impact Assessment mentioned in 9.1
(c) 2025, Terf Watch Brighton
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