No, they did not. They only did psychological assessment, and then referred on to endocrinology who would then do their own assessment and decide whether or not to prescribe PBs.

Here's the NHS England stand commissioning contract. On page 17 there's a flow chart, and you can see that after the assessment phase there's a box that says "Refer to Endocrinology Clinic + ongoing GIDS input", and that box exists because GIDS have never prescribed PBs, they referred children on to an endocrinology service who did their own assessment and made their own decision about whether or not to prescribe. Page 18 has a further flow chart that explains the endo referral process. Page 19 describes the referral and separate assessment process used by the endo service. Page 25 gives further details about referral to the endo liaison team.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/gender...

From the link you provide: "A standardised set of psychological questionnaires used in the GIDS clinic was completed at the time young people were deemed potentially eligible and referred to the medical clinic." and "Young people were considered for recruitment after lengthy assessment, spending an average of 2 years and up to 6 years within the GIDS psychological service before being referred to the endocrine clinic for assessment to enter the study." - I mean, come on.

One of the lead authors of the link you've provided: "Gary Butler". He's Professor Gary Butler, who works for the Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, at University College London Hospital NHS Trust. This is the service that provides endocrinology assessment and, if necessary, prescribing.

He doesn't work for Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

From one of the references in your link: https://adc.bmj.com/content/103/7/631

> Support for children and adolescents up to the age of 18 years has been provided through the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London for over 20 years. The GIDS was nationally commissioned by NHS England in 2009 and extended to Leeds in 2012, providing regular outreach clinics in other areas of the UK. Endocrine evaluation and support has been provided through University College Hospital London for over two decades, and Leeds Children’s Hospital since 2013. Care is provided according to an agreed service schedule,3 taking into account international guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)4 and the recent guidelines from the Endocrine Society.5

Puberty blockers would be "endocrine evaluation and support".

If anything, the UK has been an outlier because so few children had access to PBs, far fewer than in other countries. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18667644/

GIDS at Tavistock and Portman never prescribed PBs. That prescribing was done, independently, by endocrinology services in other organisations.