Consent, Level 1

What it covers

What makes consent valid, and why most consent in a practice is never written down. The conversation the law has expected since Montgomery: the reasonable options including doing nothing, the risks that matter to this patient, and what then goes in the record. Refusal and withdrawal, young people and parental responsibility, adults who may not be able to decide, and the separate yes needed for a chaperone, a student or sharing information.

Who it is for

All clinical staff: GPs and trainees, practice nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists and phlebotomists, with reception and administration for awareness.

By the end you will be able to

• Say what makes consent valid: capacity, voluntary and informed, whatever form it takes.
• Tell implied consent from express consent at the desk and in the room.
• Share the risks this patient would find material, and the reasonable alternatives.
• Record the conversation, and act when a patient refuses or withdraws consent.
• Decide who consents for a young person, and for an adult who cannot.
• Ask before a chaperone, a student or sharing beyond the care team.

Modules

1. What makes consent valid
2. What the patient needs to hear
3. Asking, and being told no
4. Age, capacity and who decides

Consent is the discussion; a form only records it. Your practice's own policy says which procedures get a written record. Capacity is taught here only as far as consent needs it; the two-stage test, best interests, advance decisions and deprivation of liberty sit in our Mental Capacity Act course.

Content mapped to GMC guidance on decision making and consent (in effect 9 November 2020, last updated 3 August 2026), the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Law named: Mental Capacity Act 2005, sections 1 to 5, and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 11.

Sources

• Decision making and consent (General Medical Council, in effect 9 November 2020, guidance document last updated 3 August 2026; read in full from the web archive copy because the site refuses automated fetches)
• The seven principles of decision making and consent (General Medical Council; read from the web archive copy of 1 March 2026)
• 0-18 years: guidance for all doctors, paragraphs 22 to 33 and 63, and Appendix 2 on parental responsibility (General Medical Council, in effect 15 October 2007, last updated 13 December 2024)
• Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11, press summary of the judgment of 11 March 2015 (The Supreme Court)
• McCulloch and others v Forth Valley Health Board [2023] UKSC 26, judgment of 12 July 2023, paragraphs 56 to 58: the professional practice test decides which alternatives are reasonable (The Supreme Court)
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 1: the principles
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 2: people who lack capacity
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 3: inability to make decisions
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 4: best interests
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 5: acts in connection with care or treatment
• Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice, chapter 4 on assessing capacity (Department for Constitutional Affairs, 2007)
• Family Law Reform Act 1969, section 8: consent by persons over 16 to surgical, medical and dental treatment
• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, regulation 11: need for consent
• Reference guide to consent for examination or treatment, second edition, chapter 1 (Department of Health, July 2009)
• Consent: the green book, chapter 2 (UK Health Security Agency, chapter text dated 27 October 2025)
• Consent to treatment: overview, assessing capacity, and children and young people (NHS website, last reviewed 8 December 2022)
• GP mythbuster 8: Gillick competency and Fraser guidelines (Care Quality Commission, last updated 23 December 2022)
• Confidentiality: using and disclosing patient information for direct care, paragraphs 26 to 31 (General Medical Council; read from the web archive copy)
• Intimate examinations and chaperones, paragraphs 7 to 16 (General Medical Council; read from the web archive copy of 14 January 2026)
• Making and using visual and audio recordings of patients, paragraphs 10 to 15 (General Medical Council, in effect 9 May 2011, updated 13 December 2024; read from the web archive copy)

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GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.