- Published
A doctor who raised concerns about the treatment of children questioning their gender has told the BBC she was accused of transphobia, bullied and harassed out of her child protection job in the NHS.
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she → publish → NHS
Dr Sarah Redvers, who was a named safeguarding GP, said she faced a brutal investigation after she passed on complaints brought to her by other doctors.
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she → name → doctors
Speaking publicly for the first time, Redvers said she felt she was "silenced" for doing her job after questioning whether another GP was appropriately assessing the needs of young people who were distressed about their gender identity.
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who → speak → identity
She has brought a claim of constructive dismissal against the NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB), which managed health services in the county, and Adam Doyle, who was the ICB's chief executive until 2025.
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who → bring → 2025
Redvers told a three-week employment tribunal hearing that she felt the focus on investigating her meant issues of patient safety had been sidelined.
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issues → tell → safety
"I was just bewildered really that the medical and safeguarding issues were completely lost," she said.
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she → safeguard → ?
"It's really risky," she told the BBC.
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she → tell → BBC
NHS Surrey and Sussex said: "We recognise that some employment processes should have been handled differently."
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processes → say → ?
They have apologised to Redvers.
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They → apologise → Redvers
In June 2026, nearly six years after she first raised concerns, a separate NHS safety investigation found that dozens of children, some as young as 13, had been inappropriately prescribed drugs at the WellBN practice, the clinic where the other doctor worked.
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doctor → raise → practice
The report said 78 children had potentially been harmed after puberty-blocking drugs and cross sex hormones were prescribed to them without proper checks.
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drugs → say → checks
The report said it was in response to a drug review carried out in autumn 2024, not to the concerns first raised by Redvers years earlier.
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it → say → Redvers
NHS England said: "It is totally unacceptable young people were put at risk of harm because some practitioners at the WellBN practice provided care they were not commissioned to deliver by the NHS."
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they → say → NHS
"To read about a medical scandal knowing it could have been stopped was upsetting," said Redvers, "because concerns were raised appropriately and leaders knew about it".
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leaders → read → it
Redvers, who has many years of experience working with vulnerable groups, was a named safeguarding GP for Sussex, which meant other doctors who had safety concerns about patients could turn to her for advice and help.
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who → have → advice
The tribunal heard that in July 2020, a doctor got in touch because she was worried about a patient who had gone to an online clinic which was registered overseas.
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which → hear → clinic
It wanted the GP to take over prescribing testosterone to a vulnerable 18-year-old female, who was distressed about her gender.
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who → want → gender
The doctor was also given advice on such prescriptions by a Brighton GP, Dr Sam Hall.
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doctor → give → GP
"The concerns to me were that Hall was recommending treatment for patients that he hadn't assessed, that he hadn't met, and that other GPs were uncomfortable with prescribing," Redvers said.
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Redvers → recommend → that
Redvers spoke to NHS England (NHSE) and was advised to make the complaint as a whistleblower.
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Redvers → speak → whistleblower
It was investigated and NHSE said it was satisfied with Hall's practice.
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it → investigate → practice
Over the following months several other GPs voiced their concerns to Redvers about the quality of assessments, the prescription of puberty blocking drugs and cross sex hormones, and the lack of specialist supervision at the WellBN clinic, where Hall was based.
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Hall → follow → clinic
Again, the NHS investigated her concerns.
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NHS → investigate → concerns
She said she was also told by the investigator that there was a "general worry" that there "would be allegations of transphobia."
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she → say → transphobia
Hall, who is a trans man and was born female, qualified as a GP in 2019 and is known as a campaigner for transgender rights in Brighton.
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who → bear → Brighton
Publicly, he had said that his own pain had shown him the importance of "affirmative care" - support for a patient in a way which accepts rather than challenges their preferred gender and treatment decisions follow from that.
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decisions → say → that
He was also working with the NHS locally on setting up a Trans Health hub and with a Brighton trans support charity called The Clare Project.
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He → work → charity
The second NHS investigation considered "the full scope" of Hall's work and concluded there was no cause for concern.
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investigation → consider → concern
It also said there was "one colleague whose persistent interest in the issue appeared disproportionate."
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interest → say → issue
Redvers took that to mean her.
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that → take → her
The concerns she said she and others were raising were about the quality of care being provided, and whether it had the necessary medical evidence to underpin it, not her views on gender.
"It's about medical assessment and treatment of patients, which is something we have to get right, particularly in this complex group of vulnerable patients," she said.
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she → say → patients
She said she viewed any suggestion of transphobia as "appalling," and it was "dangerous" that such claims were obscuring the medical and safeguarding issues she was raising.
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she → say → issues
In 2021, whilst waiting for the outcome of the second investigation and prompted by a concern raised by local mental health services about the care of a vulnerable 15-year-old, Redvers referred Hall to the medical regulator, the GMC.
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Redvers → wait → regulator
Hall emailed Adam Doyle, then CEO of NHS Sussex, directly to complain.
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Hall → email → Sussex
"I am being victimised here, and I need proper protection from this individual and their repeated attempts to disrupt my career" he said.
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he → victimise → career
Although Doyle at first denied to the tribunal he knew Hall before this, it emerged during the tribunal that he had previously had a number of mentoring meetings with the GP.
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he → deny → GP
The GMC investigation was not taken forward.
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investigation → take → ?
However, the NHS launched an investigation into Redvers, bringing in an external investigator.
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NHS → launch → investigator
The tribunal heard she was called to what she described as a "brutal" four-hour interrogation.
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she → hear → interrogation
I didn't feel I had the chance at all to explain what had happened," she said.
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she → feel → chance
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
