Parents / guardians of children under 11 can apply for “Proxy” access, where their child’s record is linked to their profile, as children under 11 are assumed not to be competent unless there is an indication that they are.

In order to allow anyone access to their records, a capacity judgement needs to be made. Children under 11 are presumed to lack capacity. Young people and adults aged 16 and above are presumed to have capacity. Both positions can be challenged in individual circumstances, for example, an adult with severe learning difficulties or advanced dementia is unlikely to have capacity.

It is more complicated for children / young people between the ages of 11 and 15 as a judgement of their capacity needs to be made, and this can also change over time. Our policy is that the judgement needs to be made by a clinician in a face to face assessment. The risk for this age group is that if their parent / guardian manages the online account for a patient who has capacity, the child / young person may be reticent to access healthcare such as contraception if they thought their parent or guardian would see this online.

We have discussed this need as a Partnership team, and we have taken the decision that we cannot prioritise this requirement over provision of clinical care, so we are not offering this age group access to online services. Once the young person turns 16, consent can be presumed and the service re-enabled.

In order that we limit the disadvantage that this might cause to patients or their families of this age who are on repeat medication, we have agreed that they can have temporary (whilst they are aged 11-15) access to an email address to request repeat medication. If this affects you or your child, please speak to one of our reception team who will be happy to help you. Please note this email address can ONLY be used for requests for this age group.