The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has expressed concern over the potential criminalisation of pharmacists who supply puberty blockers, following a High Court ruling earlier this week upholding an emergency prohibition order on the medicines.

The legislation – brought in by former health secretary Victoria Atkins in May – makes it a criminal offence to supply puberty blockers outside the terms of the order and means that no new patients under 18 will be prescribed these medicines as treatment for gender dysphoria.

The recent High Court ruling – which was challenged by campaign group TransActual UK – has led the RPS to raise its concerns and to call for ‘timely access to specialist care pathways’ to support patients.

The medicines can still be legitimately supplied to under-18s for very early onset of puberty (usually caused by another condition), to people under 18 with gender dysphoria already in treatment, and to people aged 18 and over.

However, the RPS has highlighted that the order risks criminalising pharmacists who ‘unknowingly break the law through no fault of their own, such as when a patient misleads the pharmacist about their clinical condition, age or identity’.

The society is also concerned that the legislation could inadvertently result in pharmacists declining to supply puberty blockers in any circumstances for fear of prosecution, thus negatively affecting patient care.

The speed at which the ban was issued could also mean there are some pharmacists who are not yet aware of it and inadvertently dispense a prescription, the RPS added.

The RPS has issued a full position statement and said it has raised concerns about the potential criminalisation of pharmacists with the Department of Health and Social Care on behalf of the profession, adding that ‘civil servants recognise this risk’.

‘We urge the government to consider a solution which protects patients but doesn’t unfairly criminalise pharmacists,’ the RPS said.

In May, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) published a new resource to support pharmacists and pharmacy technicians when providing services to children and young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria.

It followed a major review into gender identity services for children and young people – the Cass Review – which called for clear communication on the extent of community pharmacists’ responsibilities when asked to dispense privately prescribed puberty suppressing hormones.

This week, the British Medical Association (BMA) called for a pause to the implementation of the Cass review’s recommendations on treatment of transgender children, as reported by our sister title Pulse.

The doctors’ union intends to undertake its own evaluation of the the independent report following ‘concerns’ voiced by doctors and academics, which it expects to complete towards the end of the year.