The health team who are going to complete the health assessment will require necessary permissions to be in place.
All required consents applying to the health assessment pathway will now be obtained and recorded on the new “referral and consent form”
There are several permissions to be obtained
- Permission for the child/young person to be invited to and have an appointment with a health professional. This appointment involving a physical examination
- Permission from birth parents to access, record and share their health information, where it is relevant to the health of the child.
The health assessment
When a child/young person enters care, social care has a statutory requirement to arrange a health assessment. The social worker should explain this duty to the young person and those with parental responsibility. CoramBAAF have produced an information leaflet that can be shared with parents to assist these conversations.
Where a young person has the capacity to make their own decision about attending the appointment the social worker should have the conversation directly with the young person and seek their permission which can be recorded on the form. The young person can give verbal assent.
Where the child/young person cannot make their own choice, permission can be obtained from someone with parental responsibility.
In some cases, the local authority has (or shares) parental responsibility for the child /young person. In these circumstances submission of the referral by social care to the health team is sufficient to proceed.
(In these circumstances the social worker should still make every attempt to explain the process to the parents)
If neither of the two situations described above exist, another adult who has parental responsibility will need to give permission. The social worker should explain the statutory process to the appropriate individual. If the individual raises no objections, this can be recorded, and the referral can be submitted.
The consent section is now worded so that initial permissions from parents (if required) are relevant for the entire care episode. However, practitioners should recognise that circumstances may change in terms of the legal situation regarding parental responsibility or the child's/young person's ability to take their own decisions. There may also be changes in delegated authority arrangements over time. In requesting review health assessments, social care should consider these possible changes but often will not need to seek new permissions/consent.
Birth parents health information
In respect of birth parents' health information, they will need to give consent for this information to be obtained, viewed and shared and this needs to be recorded on the referral and consent form.