Overview

• Dr Tom Dolphin, an anaesthetic consultant and long-time BMA council member, was voted in as chair after the 69-member governing council ousted Professor Phil Banfield.
• In July 2024, Dolphin led the motion that prompted the BMA to reject the Cass Review’s recommendation to ban puberty blockers for trans-identifying children outside clinical trials.
• The association commissioned a task and finish group with a January deadline to evaluate the Cass Review’s methodology but has not released its findings six months after the target date.
• More than 1,000 members have signed an open letter calling on the BMA to abandon its critique, and senior doctors say the union’s leadership has sidelined wider membership.
• Critics from human rights charity Sex Matters and former insiders warn that the leadership change reflects an ideological shift that may undermine evidence-based guidance on children’s gender services.