Child Medical Consent in the UK
- 18 years of age or older (adult): In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, parental responsibilities may be exercised until a young person reaches 18 years. In Scotland a child over the age of 16 is treated as an adult and may give their own medical consent.
- 16-17 years of age (young people): People aged 16 or 17 are presumed to be capable of consenting to their own medical treatment, and any related procedures involved in that treatment, such as an anaesthetic (section 8 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969). However, unlike adults, the refusal of a competent person aged 16–17 may in certain circumstances be overridden by either a person with parental responsibility or a court. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are some procedures (e.g. live organ donation, some non-therapeutic procedures and research) where the presumption of competence for a person 16 or 17 years old also does not apply and parental consent would be needed. As mentioned above, in Scotland a person over the age of 16 is treated as an adult.
- 16 years of age or younger (children): A person under the age of 16 can be competent to give medical consent but this needs to be assessed in each case on a continual basis.
Note: In an emergency, where consent is unavailable, for example when the patient is unable to communicate his or her wishes and where nobody with parental responsibility is available, it is legally and ethically appropriate for health professionals to proceed with treatment necessary to preserve the life, health or well being of the patient.
For more information on medical consent for children and young people in the UK click
here.
