The consent process in radiotherapy

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-216
Author(s):  
Keisha S. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Patient Autonomy ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Medical Professional ◽  
Consent Process ◽  
Consent Forms ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Past ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Radiotherapy Department

AbstractOver the past two decades The Department of Health has made the consent process one of its main focus and has issued numerous guidelines on how the process must be conducted in order to make it valid. This mandate has been in accordance with the new patient-centred health service, which has patient autonomy as its fundamental standard. This paper will critically appraise the consent process in a radiotherapy department against the Department of Health’s recommendations. The ethical and legal principles governing the process will also be discussed using guidance from medical professional bodies and reference to English case law. Additionally, the function of written consent and consent forms will be assessed in order to establish whether implied or oral consent has any role in radiotherapy. The paper found that to a large extent the Department of Health’s recommendations are followed in the radiotherapy department evaluated. One key outcome arising from this paper is that written consent is the most appropriate form of consent in radiotherapy; however the record of consent should not be solely confined to a consent form. Rather it is critical that adequate notes of all areas of the dialogue that took place during the consent process with the patient should be written in the patient’s medical notes.

Consent and information giving in radiotherapy

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-223
Author(s):  
Gillian Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Health Professional ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Consent Forms ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
Information Giving ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Radiotherapy Department ◽  
Consent To Treatment ◽  
To Receive

AbstractThis paper explores some of the issues around implementing a consent policy within the radiotherapy department. Consent can be defined as a patient’s agreement for a health care professional to provide care. The NHS Plan1 highlighted the need for quality care centred around the patient and for changes in the way patients are asked to give their consent to treatment. This led to the Department of Health (DoH) publishing a Good Practice in Consent Implementation Guide (2001)2 for use within all NHS Trusts from 1 April 2002, which aimed to provide consistency across the NHS and provides a policy model and generic consent forms.The policy recommends that the health professional carrying out the procedure is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the patient is genuinely consenting to what is being done, as it is they who would be held responsible in law should a case be made by a patient against a health professional. In radiotherapy, it is the Clinical Oncologist who obtains consent as they are responsible for prescribing courses of treatment; however, it is the Radiographer’s role to deliver this treatment. This paper discusses some of the issues around implementing a consent policy in terms of who can give and confirm consent, and what are the requirements for training if the patient is to receive the appropriate information before making the decision to consent to treatment.

Computers and the NHS: An Analysis of their Contribution to the Past, Present and Future Delivery of the National Health Service

1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Gillies
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
First Generation ◽  
White Paper ◽  
The Past ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
The Impact

This paper looks at the contribution that computers have made to the delivery of the National Health Service through a period of major reform that began in 1986, and is still ongoing. The paper starts with a retrospective analysis of the first generation of NHS Reforms and the role played by computer systems. The major empirical component is a case study looking at the impact of computers on health promotion activities among over 1 million patients in Lancashire. Finally, the paper looks forward to the latest NHS reforms, as outlined in the 1997 White Paper The New DHS (Department of Health, 1997, HMSO, London) and outlines the information implications and a strategic framework to deliver changes required if the reforms are to succeed.

Readability of Informed Consent Forms: Analysis and Recommendations for Development of Consent Forms for Use with Communities with Limited or Low Literacy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miraida Morales ◽  
Sarah Barriage
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Informed Consent Process ◽  
Consent Process ◽  
Measurement Tool ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
Consent Forms ◽  
Early Readers ◽  
Research With Children ◽  
Consentement Éclairé

This poster presents a pilot study that analyzed a small corpus of informed consent forms used in research with children, adolescents, and adult early readers using Coh-Metrix, a readability measurement tool. Recommendations for increasing readability of consent forms in order to improve the informed consent process are also provided. Cette affiche présente une étude pilote qui a analysé un corpus restreint de formulaires de consentement éclairé utilisés dans la recherche avec les enfants, les adolescents et les lecteurs précoces adultes,  utilisant Coh-Metrix, un outil de mesure de la lisibilité. Nous fournissons également des recommandations pour augmenter la lisibilité des formulaires de consentement afin d'améliorer le processus de consentement éclairé.

Does the Injunction Gap Violate Implementers’ Fair Trial Rights Under the ECHR?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léon E Dijkman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Federal Supreme ◽  
Validity Of A Patent

Abstract Germany is one of few jurisdictions with a bifurcated patent system, under which infringement and validity of a patent are established in separate proceedings. Because validity proceedings normally take longer to conclude, it can occur that remedies for infringement are imposed before a decision on the patent’s validity is available. This phenomenon is colloquially known as the ‘injunction gap’ and has been the subject of increasing criticism over the past years. In this article, I examine the injunction gap from the perspective of the right to a fair trial enshrined in Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. I find that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights interpreting this provision supports criticism of the injunction gap, because imposing infringement remedies with potentially far-reaching consequences before the validity of a patent has been established by a court of law arguably violates defendants’ right to be heard. Such reliance on the patent office’s grant decision is no longer warranted in the light of contemporary invalidation rates. I conclude that the proliferation of the injunction gap should be curbed by an approach to a stay of proceedings which is in line with the test for stays as formulated by Germany’s Federal Supreme Court. Under this test, courts should stay infringement proceedings until the Federal Patent Court or the EPO’s Board of Appeal have ruled on the validity of a patent whenever it is more likely than not that it will be invalidated.

scholarly journals Knights and Knaves in the English Medical Profession: the Case of Clinical Excellence Awards

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK EXWORTHY ◽  
PAULA HYDE ◽  
PAMELA MCDONALD-KUHNE
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Clinical Excellence ◽  
Medical Professional ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Written Responses ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
The Uk

AbstractWe elaborate Le Grand's thesis of ‘knights and knaves’ in terms of clinical excellence awards (CEAs), the ‘financial bonuses’ which are paid to over half of all English hospital specialists and which can be as much as £75,000 (€92,000) per year in addition to an NHS (National Health Service) salary. Knights are ‘individuals who are motivated to help others for no private reward’ while knaves are ‘self-interested individuals who are motivated to help others only if by doing so they will serve their private interests.’ Doctors (individually and collectively) exhibit both traits but the work of explanation of the inter-relationship between them has remained neglected. Through a textual analysis of written responses to a recent review of CEAs, we examine the ‘knightly’ and ‘knavish’ arguments used by medical professional stakeholders in defending these CEAs. While doctors promote their knightly claims, they are also knavish in shaping the preferences of, and options for, policy-makers. Policy-makers continue to support CEAs but have introduced revised criteria for CEAs, putting pressure on the medical profession to accept reforms. CEAs illustrate the enduring and flexible power of the medical profession in the UK in colonising reforms to their pay, and also the subtle inter-relationship between knights and knaves in health policy.

The Privilege of Information—An Examination of the Defence of Therapeutic Privilege and its Implications for Pregnant Women

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife M Finnerty
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Postpartum Period ◽  
Patient Autonomy ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Judicial Scrutiny ◽  
Therapeutic Privilege ◽  
Professional Guidelines ◽  
In Pregnancy

Abstract Though apparently in existence across common law countries, the defence of ‘therapeutic privilege’ receives scant judicial analysis in case law. The extent of its reach is unclear and its underpinning justification is shaky. Often it forms a throwaway remark or poorly explored caveat when the duty of a physician to disclose information is being examined, rather than receiving any detailed judicial scrutiny in its own right. Furthermore, despite references to it in case law, it is questionable if it has ever successfully been invoked as a defence in either England and Wales or Ireland. This piece examines this lack of clarity and the often-vague references to the existence of therapeutic privilege in both case law and professional guidelines, followed by a consideration of why the defence may be particularly problematic and unjustified in the context of childbirth and the immediate postpartum period. Considering the dangers of therapeutic privilege in pregnancy presents a timely opportunity to examine the issues with the use of the defence in all other healthcare contexts, focusing particularly on its impact on individual patient autonomy. Finally, this piece concludes by contending that therapeutic privilege ought to be abolished, if it truly exists at all.

Exploring the Dimensions of Recovery and User Experience

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-311
Author(s):  
Peter Jones
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Health Service Provision ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Mental Health Service Provision

The concept of recovery is widely applied within service delivery in the field of mental health. The dimensions of recovery were explored using a singular conceptual framework known as Hodges’ model, which is shown to be suited to this particular task. This arises from the model’s structure, in that it encompasses the individual-group and a care domain specific to the political aspects of both health and social care. The evidence was found by relating recovery to the model’s care domains, which is also relevant to the experience of mental health service users and developments over the past decade in mental health service provision. Particular attention is given to the ‘Recovery Star’. This can be used as a key-working and outcomes tool. The discussion is also placed in a context of the current socio-economic climate, notably the ‘politics of recovery’ at a time of austerity.

The NHS — is Scotland Different? a Case Study of the Management of Health Care in the Hospital Service in the West of Scotland 1947 – 1987

2000 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 155-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. McTavish
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Medical Professional ◽  
Hospital Service ◽  
The West ◽  
New Managerialism ◽  
Hospital Boards

Management of the health service in Scotland and England, has since its creation, shown both divergence and congruence. In the initial decades in Scotland the executive hospital boards (which contained strong medical professional membership) and central government had a clearer relationship than in England. The health service-civil service machinery in Scotland was without doubt more to the forefront with higher status in the Scottish ‘polity’ than was the case in England. The 1970s reforms also indicated difference: despite the pro managerialist tones of the Farquarson Lang report in Scotland, a managerial emphasis was more apparent in the English reforms. By the 1980s, the government's clear intention that their ‘radical’ agenda should apply in Scotland and England was implemented in many instances: aspects of the new managerialism were applied as vigorously in the case examined than anywhere in England: the attempt to draw clinicians into resource management (as advocated in the Griffiths report) appeared to have advanced further in Scotland until well into the 1990s. Yet in other aspects, Scotland diverged from parts of England in the implementation of the 1980's agenda most notably in the growth of private practice though the case indicated significant Scottish developments here too. The article concludes by speculating on some Scottish differences in the coming years.

scholarly journals Delivering race equality in mental health services

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 326-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Lau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Pilot Survey ◽  
The Past ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Clinical Engagement

‘Delivering race equality’ is a 5-year action plan for tackling race inequalities in mental healthcare in England and Wales, based on the main themes of improved services, better community engagement and better information. The perception is that clinical teams have not been sufficiently engaged with the plan and progress is slow. This article shares insights from the author's work across government departments over the past 2 years and explores the potential for linking up different initiatives across the patient care pathway in support of the plan's delivery. A summary of conclusions from a pilot survey of consultant psychiatrists, commissioned by the Department of Health in June 2007, addresses the main controversial areas in the action plan, with suggestions for improvement. Areas for clinical engagement are identified that exploit new funding, investment and policy initiatives. Examples of good practice are offered.

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