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The term 'consent' means agreement. Unless it is an emergency, staff cannot treat a baby without parental agreement.

 

As the baby's parents you have a major role to play when critical decisions have to be made about treatments. The doctors and nurses will advise what is best for your baby, but you will be expected to be involved in making important decisions wherever possible. In general, parents do not consent to each and every individual procedure or treatment for their baby. Rather, after discussions and consultations with medical staff, a course of action is explained and justified, and then consented to. Ideally, this discussion and the consent take place before treatment begins. However, this is not always possible, especially in emergency situations.

 

In the case of an emergency, when treatment needs to go ahead and the person who should give consent cannot be contacted at all, every reasonable additional effort must be made to contact the parent or guardian. If treatment cannot wait, the doctor can decide whether to go ahead without consent. This decision is recorded in the patient's health record.

 

Surgical consent

 

Consent before surgery or other treatment is an example of the informed consent process. Before your baby is scheduled for surgery, you, as his parent or guardian, need to decide whether or not the surgeon can go ahead. The surgeon will discuss with you the risks involved with the surgery, treatment, or procedure under anaesthesia before you sign a consent form. The surgeon is required to tell you about any potential problems that could occur and to ensure that you understand the general nature of the procedure. The consent forms will be kept in your baby's medical record.