The accompanying adult: authority to give consent in the UK.

BACKGROUND

Children may be accompanied by various people when attending for dental treatment. Before treatment is started, there is a legal requirement that the operator obtain informed consent for the proposed procedure. In the case of minors, the person authorized to give consent (parental responsibility) is usually a parent.

AIM

To ascertain if accompanying persons of children attending the Department of Paediatric Dentistry at the Eastman Dental Hospital, London were empowered to give consent for the child's dental treatment.

DESIGN

A total of 250 accompanying persons of children attending were selected, over a 6-month period. A questionnaire was used to establish whether the accompanying person(s) were authorized to give consent.

RESULT

The study showed that 12% of accompanying persons had no legal authority to give consent for the child's dental treatment.

CONCLUSION

Clinicians need to be aware of the status of persons accompanying children to ensure valid consent is obtained.