Consent for parents to access their child’s record

Children’s rights, capacity and consent

Children have the same legal rights over their data as adults. The GP surgery must get the child’s consent before giving access to their online GP services, if the child is able to understand and make an informed decision. This is called having capacity.

Children aged 11 or over are usually considered to have the capacity to consent, or refuse access, unless for example they have a medical condition or learning disability that affects their understanding.

When your online access will stop

Parent and guardian access usually ends when a child is 16. If your child wants or needs you to help manage their GP services when they are 16 or over, your GP surgery can set it up again.

Most GP surgeries also have an automatic cut-off age between 11 and 14, where online parent and guardian access is stopped to protect an older child’s confidentiality.

If your access stops, you can ask us to restore it.

We will usually check the child agrees to your access (consents) first.

To do this you will need to attend the surgery in person with your child and both with ID. Our reception team will then establish consent.