Understanding required for consent to puberty supressing hormones

Bell and Another v The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHS England) (Interested Party), University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Transgender Trend Ltd (Interveners) [2020] EWHC 3274 (Admin)

In a challenge by way of judicial review concerning the provision of medication to suppress puberty, a court has held that a child under 16 could only consent to the use of such medication if he or she had sufficient competence to understand the nature of the treatment, including the immediate and long-term consequences of the treatment, the limited evidence concerning its efficacy or purpose, and its potentially life-changing consequences.