Children and the accident and emergency department

It is not unusual for children to come into the Accident and Emergency (A & E) department unaccompanied by their parents and alone or with other children. At the one extreme there might be a child who is bleeding from a cut which requires urgent stitching, at the other extreme, there may be a road traffic accident where the child is unconscious and no one initially knows his name or parents and address. What is the legal situation regarding the duty of the A & E staff? This article starts with the general principles relating to consent to treatment and then looks at specific situations relating to children.