Who will use it?

Presented by: Christopher Bull

When I or one of my clinical colleagues ask you for your consent for an operation or procedure, we want to make sure that we have given you enough information to enable you to make an informed decision about your operation or procedure. This means we sometimes need to get others involved in the decision-making process. For example, if a child is having the operation or procedure or if someone is rushed into hospital with a trauma and they are unable to give consent themselves.

I want to explain the different processes depending on who’s consent is needed.

It’s very simple in the majority of cases if you are the adult consenting for your own operation. You make the decision and if appropriate you sign that you agree to go ahead with the operation or procedure.

You might be the legally responsible adult for a child up to the age of 13. In which case you will be asked to sign the digital consent on behalf of your child. We have some excellent online guides and films that help to explain to a child what happens when they come into hospital (see our paediatric surgery site)

When the patient is a young person between the ages of 14-17, they will have the opportunity to sign their consent in partnership with their responsible adult with guidance from the consenting clinician.

There are also some instances where an operation or procedure is recommended for somebody without the capacity to make that decision for themselves. If you have legal responsibility to consent for the patient you will be asked to sign on their behalf. This will always be done with the support and guidance of our clinicians.

In all these cases it’s our same electronic signature process on a form that contains all the information about the operation or procedure that is being consented for. Digital copies are securely held on the patient’s hospital record and can be accessed whenever needed.

Thanks for listening.