Consent--who, what, where, when?

An investigation of current practise for obtaining and documenting informed consent in Scottish Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) departments.

A telephone survey of junior representatives of each ENT department. Each junior was asked a series of questions regarding who discussed the operations with patients who signed the consent forms and whether any form of training was given.

May 1999.

In 80% of cases the responsibility for taking written consent fell to the most junior members of staff. Consultants have a pre-operative discussion, with their patients most of the time but only rarely is this discussion documented. Training in the process of consent is given in only one of 15 departments.

Despite increasing negligence claims and clear guidelines from the General Medical Council the responsibility for obtaining written consent from pre-operative patients still rests with the most junior medical staff of the ENT departments of Scotland. We suggest that this situation is neither prudent nor fair and have put forward two simple proposals to rectify the situation.