A transgender teenager is taking legal action against England's health service over a delay in accessing specialist gender care, his lawyers said on Monday, as global debate rages over whether adolescents should be allowed to medically change gender.

The 14-year-old was referred to Britain's only youth gender identity clinic in October 2019, and has been told he may have to wait at least another year to be seen - a wait his mother said was causing him "distress and uncertainty".