0–18 years: guidance for all doctors

This guidance covers children and young people from birth to their 18th birthday. It sets out how to assess children and young people’s capacity to consent and how to involve their family and others close to them in sensitive and complex decisions. It  sets the principles for  communicating effectively across the team, with the child and their family or carers, to make sure you gather relevant information.

This guidance will help you decide what to do if parents want to access their child’s medical records or where there’s a disagreement about treatment options.  It gives details of when you can provide contraceptive, abortion and STI advice and treatment, without parental knowledge or consent, to young people under 16.

This guidance was updated on 25 May 2018 to reflect the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.