Puberty blockers can still be prescribed to children due to an NHS loophole, despite being banned.

An interim review led by leading consultant paediatrician Dr Hillary Cass led to the banning the prescription of the drugs.

Her final review into care for children who want to change gender is due to be published later this week. It comes after the Tavistock centre was closed down last year.

It is expected to reiterate that puberty blockers are harmful and should not be given except during research trials.

However, doctors are allowed to apply for special dispensation to prescribe the drugs under exceptional circumstances. The Telegraph reports the decision was made because a protocol already exists that allows doctors to apply for any treatment that is not routinely available to be funded by the NHS.

Doctors are able to submit "individual funding requests" to NHS England for any patient they believe would benefit from a specialised service treatment and justify why the "clinical circumstances are exceptional."

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss is leading the charge calling for an outright ban on the drugs and that the loophole is closed, amid fears that vulnerable children are not being safeguarded.

She said: "In schools, hospitals and the courts, extremist activists have exploited loopholes in the law time and time again. Without primary legislation, the practice of prescribing puberty blockers to children will continue, despite the evidence of harmful consequences.

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Truss told The Telegraph: "Non-statutory guidance and reviews are not enough. A change in the law is needed to protect children. I urge the Government to back my Bill which will stop puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones being supplied to under-18s, both in the private sector and the NHS."

Conservative member of the health select committee Dr Caroline Johnson MP said: “There is a risk of irreversible harm and irreversible changes with these drugs.

"If the NHS plans to allow them for children by individual applications – the question is how high is the threshold of benefit which must be met? How well must risk be understood? What is the burden of proof?"

Dr Cass’s final report, which is set to be published on Wednesday, is expected to look more closely at cross-sex hormones and social transitioning among schoolchildren, with warnings that children face grave psychological consequences if they are allowed to change gender at school.

A spokesman for Bayswater Support Group, which provides support for parents whose children have a transgender identity, said he hoped the review would "spur regulators and the Government to remove all loopholes that allow medical mistreatment of children and recognise that it may be necessary to legislate for this."

An NHS England spokesman said: "Following an expert review of available evidence we recently confirmed that NHS services will not offer puberty suppressing hormones to young people seeking treatment and support for gender incongruence or gender dysphoria.

"As with all specialised services, doctors are able to apply for individual exceptions to be made, but these requests are only ever approved if there is clear clinical evidence that the patient would benefit more than others with the same condition."