Parent and guardian proxy access for children under 16

How to get parent and guardian proxy access

If you care for a child aged under 16, and you have legal parental responsibility for them, you can usually get proxy access by asking the GP surgery to set this up. You may need to fill in a form.

Before giving you access, the GP surgery may need to check:

• ID for you and the child, for example passports
• documents that help to prove you have parental responsibility, for example a birth certificate
• with anyone else that shares parental responsibility with you
• for safeguarding issues
• that the child consents to your access (agrees to it) or lacks capacity to consent, if they are aged 11 or over

You do not have to live at the same address as the child to have access.

You can have proxy access for more than 1 child, and a child can have more than 1 proxy acting on their behalf.

Children’s rights, capacity and consent

Children have the same legal rights over their data as adults. The GP surgery must get the child’s consent before giving access to their online GP services, if the child is able to understand and make an informed decision. This is called having capacity.

Children aged 11 or over are usually considered to have the capacity to consent, or refuse access, unless for example they have a medical condition or learning disability that affects their understanding.

If you think your child will not be able to understand what it means to give you access to their online GP services, you can tell your GP surgery. The GP surgery will give access based on the best interests of the child. This will usually mean having a parent or guardian acting on the child’s behalf

When your online access will stop

Parent and guardian access usually ends when a child is 16. If your child wants or needs you to help manage their GP services when they are 16 or over, your GP surgery can set it up again.

We have an automatic cut-off age between 11 and 14, where online parent and guardian access is stopped to protect an older child’s confidentiality.

You can tell your GP surgery in advance if you think your child will not be able to understand what it means to give you access to their online GP services (called lacking capacity).

When your online access ends, you will still be able to manage your child’s health and care at the GP surgery in the same way you do now.