The UK's sole child gender clinic was ordered to close it doors yesterday following more than a decade of allegations that it rushed teenagers onto life-altering puberty blocking drugs.

It was finally brought down after a probe into claims from brave whistleblowers who had been raising concerns about practices at the trust for 17 years.

North London-based Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, has treated 9,000 children as young as 10 since it opened in 1989.

But it has faced a myriad of accusations from staff and former patients, with patients claiming they were rushed to change gender without having their mental health properly assessed.

Medics described a 'climate of fear' about being labelled transphobic by managers and colleagues if they dared to question the service's approach.

Dr Hilary Cass, a top paediatrician leading an NHS-commissioned review into Tavistock, last week told health chiefs that the centre needed to be overhauled after speaking with dozens of whistleblowers.

Concerns were first raised about the clinic in 2005, when Sue Evans, a nurse at GIDS warned that youngsters were being assessed too quickly and their treatment was influenced by transgender rights groups.

She accused staff, some of whom she said previously worked at transgender charities such as Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence, of immediately affirming children's beliefs, rather than trying to understand all the difficulties the...

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