Earlier on today King’s College London announced that the PATHWAYS Horizon study has received ethics and regulatory approval.
PATHWAYS is a programme of research that aims to find out how the NHS can best support children and young people with gender incongruence.
The programme of research has been designed following recommendations made in the 2024 review by Dr Hilary Cass that said this is an area in which more research and evidence is needed.
PATHWAYS has been commissioned and funded by NHS England and the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR), and is co-sponsored King's College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
PATHWAYS Horizon is a longitudinal observational study that is the first in the PATHWAYS programme of research.
The application for PATHWAYS Horizon was received earlier this year and was reviewed by the City and East Research Ethics Committee. The review followed UK standard processes and procedures as set out in the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research and the Standard Operating Procedures for Research Ethics Committees in the UK.
The outcome of the review was the study being given a favourable opinion which will allow the sponsor to begin recruiting participants.
There are three other parts to the PATHWAYS research programme; Trial, Connect and Voices.
These studies will need to go through the same rigorous ethics and regulatory review process that all health and social care research applications we receive go through.
You can find out more about the approvals needed before a research study can start on our website.