Apply for medical or dental consent
What is consent to medical or dental treatment?
Most patients are capable of understanding the information that doctors and dentists give them and can provide informed consent to treatment.
It is the medical or dental practitioner's responsibility to determine whether a patient is capable of understanding the general nature and effect of the treatment and whether they are able to give a valid consent. If the practitioner believes that a patient is not capable of informed consent they must seek consent from an appropriate substitute decision maker.
Before the medical or dental practitioner seeks the consent of the substitute decision-maker, they must explain to the substitute decision-maker:
- the particular condition the patient has that requires treatment;
- the nature of the proposed treatment and its effects;
- the risks associated with the proposed treatment;
- alternative treatments (their nature, effects and risks) or the impact of undertaking no treatment.
Substitute consent must be obtained from someone who has legal authority to make medical or dental treatment decisions on behalf of the patient. A substitute decision maker can be:
- their 'person responsible' under the Guardianship Act 1987 or
- the Guardianship Tribunal.
In most cases where substitute consent is required, there will be a 'person responsible'.
When is an application to the Tribunal necessary?
An application to the Tribunal is necessary if:
- the treatment is special medical treatment
- the treatment is major medical or dental treatment and there is no person responsible or the person responsible cannot be located or is unwilling or unable to provide consent
- the patient is objecting to the proposed treatment (major or minor) and there is no appointed guardian authorised to override objections.
It is the responsibility of the medical or dental practitioner to identify when consent is required for the proposed treatment and the category of treatment - urgent, major, minor, special. It is also the responsibility of the practitioner to identify the substitute decision maker and to ensure that the substitute decision maker signs the appropriate consent forms before treatment.
Making the application
You can make an application by:
- speaking to the Tribunal's enquiry staff who will send you a form, or
- printing out the Application for consent to medical or dental treatment form from this website
Some hospitals may also be able to provide a form but make sure the form is current as hospitals sometimes have outdated stock of Tribunal forms.
More information
More information about substitute consent and the types of treatment is available in the brochure Substitute Consent.
More information about person responsible is also available in the brochure Person Responsible.