Children

A GP offering treatment for transgender patients online has won a High Court appeal against her suspension as a doctor and can now work again.

Dr Helen Webberley has been unable to practise medicine since last year after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel found she committed serious misconduct .

But on Friday, a High Court judge said the panel’s determination was “wrong”.

Dr Webberley said she was celebrating a return to her “life saving work”.

She worked as a GP in south Wales, in locations including Blaina, Blaenau Gwent, and Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, before starting her online business.

Mr Justice Jay had considered arguments at a recent High Court hearing in London and outlined his conclusions in a written ruling published online, saying the panel had been dealing with a “case of the utmost complexity and sensitivity”.

“The [panel’s] thinking was confused, clearly wrong in places, and it omitted reference to important evidence,” said Mr Justice Jay.

He added: “This appeal must be allowed on the ground that the [panel’s] determination on the issue of misconduct was wrong.”

Barrister Peter Mant, representing the General Medical Council, had outlined the background to the case at the hearing – telling the judge that allegations against Dr Webberley concerned her treatment of “three transgender children or adolescents and various other matters”.

Mr Mant said the sanction imposed related to “one head of charge, concerning one patient” who was not named at the hearing but identified as Patient C.

Patient C was a teenager “assigned female at birth” who identified as male, said Mr Mant.

“The misconduct for which the sanction was imposed concerned failure to provide good clinical care to a transgender child (Patient C) in not discussing the risks before commencing treatment with puberty blockers,” he told the judge.

“The tribunal found that suspension was necessary to protect the public as the appellant did not have insight into her failings,” he said.

Mr Justice Jay said he had “concerns” about “certain aspects” of Dr Webberley’s “practice” in relation to Patient C – including a “failure to have a face-to-face consultation on the issue of fertility”.

But he added: “It is far from clear to me that what did take place should be strongly criticised.”

The judge went on: “The sole focus of this appeal has been the quality of the appellant’s clinical practice in relation to one patient, Patient C.

“This appeal does not raise any wider issues about the wisdom or otherwise of administering puberty blockers to the younger age group who wish to undergo interventions for gender reassignment with full parental agreement.”

He said Dr Webberley’s case “ends here” and would not be remitted to a tribunal panel for redetermination.

In a statement on her website, Dr Helen Webberley thanked her supporters and said she had faced “discrimination” because of her work.

“Today marks the day where I am free to practise in my profession again,” she said.

“The GMC proceedings against me are over, and I have been fully cleared to continue my work. The High Court judge has ordered that the case be closed with no further action.

“I am simply a well-meaning, well-educated GP who was willing to learn how best to provide this care and I was brave enough to stand against the outdated NHS model of care which is evidently not fit for purpose in its current state.

“It seems a long time ago that I had my first trans patient and set out to change the world for the better. There is a long way to go, but I know that equality and justice will prevail, it always does, we have seen that through history.”

According to her website, Dr Webberley was a GP in South Wales from 2005 to 2016 and started her GenderGP private clinic online in 2015.

In 2018, Dr Webberley was convicted of running an independent medical agency without being registered.

A teacher who smashed a window to help his students to safety during the 1966 Aberfan disaster has died aged 82.

Howell Williams, from Treharris, was just 25 when the colliery spoil tip collapsed, engulfing Pantglas Primary School on 21 October.

The disaster killed 144 people, including 116 children. Four teachers survived.

Mr Williams’ son, Jonathan Williams, 53, said “he was a lovely man” but had “struggled” after the disaster.

Howell Williams died at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on 29 March.

Jonathan Williams, who now lives in Radyr, Cardiff, said: “I think it changed him, I think he was a different man after 25 to how he was before.

“If it happened in the modern era, it would have been very different. There was no counselling then.”

The newly qualified PE teacher helped many children escape by smashing a classroom window.

In the BBC programme Surviving Aberfan, survivor Bernard Thomas recounted how his life was saved by Mr Williams.

“My memory is of the other kids screaming,” he had said.

“I looked around and I saw my teacher and I thought ‘I’ll get across to Mr Williams now’ and he helped me out through the small panes of glass at the top of the classroom door.”

Another Aberfan survivor, Gareth Jones, added: “The other teachers who survived – Hettie, Rennie and Mair – would sometimes see us upset and they would get sad too and give us a cwtch.

“Howell was different. He’d make you smile, say something funny, and that really helped too.

“He’d been through trauma like us kids, probably worse because he saw stuff he didn’t tell us about. But his help and support was invaluable.”

Pupil Dilys Pope, who was 10 at the time of the disaster, previously told the South Wales Argus: “My leg got caught in a desk and I could not move and my arm was hurting.

“The children were lying all over the place. The teacher, Mr Williams, was also on the floor. He managed to free himself and he smashed the window in the door with a stone.”I climbed out and went round through the hall and then out through the window. I opened the classroom window and some of the children came out that way. The teacher got some of the children out and he told us to go home.”

In 1997, Queen Elizabeth visited the village to help plant a flowering cherry tree in the garden of remembrance 30 years after the disaster.

At the time, Mr Williams spoke to BBC Wales Today’s Melanie Doel.

He said: “I wasn’t looking forward to today one little bit, I don’t think anybody was, but now we’ve all met, I don’t think there’s been a tear, it’s been quite a pleasant occasion. ”