Young people’s rights when seeing the GP

Everyone has rights when seeing the GP, which include confidentiality (privacy) and being seen on their own if they want.

Sometimes Ambeya asked her dad to wait outside the consultation room. At other times, the GP did. This allowed Ambeya to have privacy during the appointment.

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Did the GP ever ask you if you wanted to have a consultation by yourself without your dad, or was it you kind of instigating that?

I don’t remember, I think I had to tell them. I think I had to tell them, “Oh is it OK for my dad to sit outside?” Yeah, I had to say it.

Hmm and was the GP open to that?

Yeah, the GP was fine with that. And the GP would be like, “Oh is it OK if you go outside?” and stuff. But obviously they were times like say if they wanted to check my stomach or something, they would tell my dad to go outside anyway. So that did make it easier because then it wouldn’t feel like I’m doing it, so it doesn’t cause problems with my dad, so that did make it easier. That was only sometimes. Most of the time I had to do it.

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Young people’s rights also include:

giving consent to treatment and being given the information to make choices
equal treatment regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or disability
being able to take someone with them (including a friend)
giving feedback or making a complaint

Here’s a summary of young people’s rights from the NHS Youth Forum.

Confidentiality when seeing the GP

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