General Features

Patient Confidentiality for children

Whenever young people appear in the news for drug use, developing an eating disorder or becoming pregnant, we often hear a public cry of "Blame the parents". However, if children keep their parents in the dark about their health problems, and GPs are restricted by patient confidentiality guidelines, can we really lay the blame at their door?

New research (by Norwich Union Healthcare) reveals nearly one in three (30%) GPs are calling for a review of current patient confidentiality guidelines to give parents of under-16s the 'right to know' on health matters and one in twenty five (4%) GPs say they believe this so strongly that they have already breached confidentiality guidelines and informed parents of teenage patient's health problems before gaining prior consent from the patient, potentially risking legal action under English common law. It seems that GPs may be unconvinced by claims that, without guaranteed confidentiality, teenage patients will have nowhere to turn for impartial advice and support.

So what do teenagers in Oxfordshire think of this? We spoke to 6th form pupils at Chipping Norton School to find out their reaction to various scenarios and see if the case changed their opinion.

Case 1 involves a 14 year old boy receiving treatment for a sexually transmitted infection.

Case 2 concerns a teenage girl who was prescribed the pill despite the potential dangers of family medical history (e.g. inherited tendency towards blood clots & thrombosis).

Case 3 is about a 15 year old daughter having a termination.

And case 4 involves a 13 year old boy who visited his GP about regularly drinking half a bottle of vodka in a single session.

Listen to the audio links to hear what the 16-18 year olds thought, and then let us know what would you say. Should the GP keep it confidential between them and the child, should they tell the parents, or does it vary with the case? We'd like your opinions in the form below.

Listen to Case 1 >
Listen to Case 2 >
Listen to Case 3 >
Listen to Case 4 >
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