Consultation runs: 24 September 2026 – 17 December 2026 (23:59 pm)

We’re reviewing our 0–18 guidance and Protecting children and young people guidance. We want to hear your views on an updated draft that combines both pieces of guidance.

These two pieces of guidance on the care of children and young people form part of our professional standards. They set out how doctors, physician associates (PAs), and anaesthesia associates (AAs) (collectively referred to as medical professionals) can provide good, safe, patient care to children and young people. They provide guidance for the professionals we regulate on how to approach a variety of complex topics.

We want to hear from:

  • patients and those who support them
  • doctors
  • PAs
  • AAs
  • a wide range of healthcare professionals
  • healthcare organisations.

You can view the updated draft guidance on our website.

You can also view the current guidance on our website.

About this consultation

The draft guidance covers the treatment and care of children and young people from birth to their 18th birthday. It applies to everyone registered with us, whether or not they routinely treat young patients. It sets out:

  • how to assess children and young people’s capacity to consent
  • how to involve their family and others close to them in sensitive and complex decisions
  • principles for communicating effectively across teams, and with the child and their family or carers, to ensure relevant information is gathered.
  • what to do if parents want to access their child’s medical records or where there’s a disagreement about treatment options
  • details of when medical professionals can provide contraceptive, abortion, and sexually transmitted infection (STI) advice and treatment, to young people under 16 without parental knowledge or consent
  • principles for effective child protection, which is an integral part of the care of children and young people
  • how those we regulate can make sure children and young people who may be at risk of harm receive the care and support they need
  • what registrants should do if they identify children at risk of, or suffering, abuse and neglect. It encourages them to work with parents and others, and provides a framework to follow when they need to share information.

The children and young people guidance sits alongside our core professional standards, Good medical practice (2024), which sets out the principles, values, and standards of professional behaviour expected of all doctors, PAs, and AAs registered with us. 

We last published 0–18 years in 2007 and Protecting children and young people in 2012. We’ve made technical updates to the guidance since then – including in December 2024 to reflect that we started regulating physician associates and anaesthesia associates.

We’re now carrying out an in-depth review to make sure 0–18 years and Protecting children and young people reflect developments across the UK’s healthcare systems and wider social changes, and look ahead to the future.

Responding to the consultation

While this consultation is open to anyone who would like to respond, it is not specifically designed for children to respond to. 

We’ve commissioned specialist research and engagement with children and young people (and their parents where appropriate) to make sure that the themes covered in the updated guidance are explained in an age-appropriate and ethical way. This work will be critical in making sure that we hear directly about the experiences of a diverse range of children, young people, and their parents.  

We know that many people responding to this consultation will do so from particular perspectives. For example, you might be a parent with considerable knowledge of guiding your child through complex healthcare experiences. Or you might be a doctor who doesn’t work routinely with young patients, so would prefer to respond in your capacity as a parent. You may also wish to assist a younger person with submitting a consultation response.

To reflect this we have included a multiple-choice question to help you indicate the capacity in which you are responding to the consultation. Please select the option that best applies to you.   

How we developed the updated draft guidance

We periodically review all our professional standards, to make sure they remain up to date, consistent with the law, and relevant to practice. 

When we carry out a guidance review, we follow a rigorous process. This includes an equality analysis, extensive research and evidence-gathering, stakeholder engagement, and public consultation and analysis.

Alongside this, we have formed the Standards guidance advisory forum to advise, support, and challenge us in reviewing the guidance and developing the updated version. The forum brings together members with a wide range of perspectives from across the UK. Members range from clinical leaders and patient advocates to experts on medical ethics, the law, and equality, diversity and inclusion.

We now want to hear your views on:

  • themes we identified through our research and engagement work to date
  • proposed structural changes to the guidance.  

Structure

We are testing a new structure that combines both existing pieces of guidance. This is because it is crucial that the guidance is easy for registrants to locate and navigate. It’s also important that content on child protection is effectively integrated into guidance on the overall care of children and young people. 

Safeguarding is an integral and vital part of the care of children and young people, and (as with all our guidance) the duties in the guidance apply to all our registrants, to the extent that they are relevant to their practice. 

Within the new draft structure, we’ve included new chapters on the following topics:

  • communication and support 
  • working with, and involving others in the child or young person’s care
  • making decisions 
  • confidentiality and information sharing 
  • child protection 
  • sexual activity.

Content
These chapters reorder and, in some areas, update existing content to make sure the guidance is up to date and reflects current practice. We have also made changes to improve readability and make the guidance easier to navigate. 

We’ve explored how the professionals we regulate use the current guidance and have drawn on a range of data and intelligence to understand where more clarity or support might be needed.

We’ve considered changes in the law and reflected these where relevant in the updated draft.

We’ve also considered findings and recommendations from public inquiries, reviews, and reports which have taken place since the guidance was last updated.

We’ve also introduced some new content in the updated draft. It’s important that we don’t create unrealistic or additional burdens on doctors, PAs, and AAs when we update the guidance on the professional standards. It’s also important that we avoid duplication with guidance and advice provided by other bodies and organisations. In light of this, we only seek to introduce new duties where they’re:

  • relevant to the practice of a doctor, PA, or AA, and not an action for employers, educators, or government
  • actionable and can be demonstrated with evidence, for example through appraisal and revalidation
  • necessary to protect patients, maintain standards, or to uphold confidence in the professions we regulate.

We took steps to make sure the updated draft guidance includes links to other professional standards guidance where relevant. We also made sure that the updates reflect more recently updated guidance, including Good medical practice (2024) and Decision making and consent (2020). The updated draft guidance emphasises respect, inclusion, and the importance of effective and respectful communication with patients. The updated draft also reflects recent legislative changes, so that doctors, PAs, and AAs are clear about their safeguarding and information sharing responsibilities.  

Throughout this consultation document, we’ve included the rationale behind the proposed changes and new content in the updated guidance draft.

Why we want to hear from you

It’s vital that the revised guidance on the care and treatment of children and young people reflects the needs and experiences of everyone it affects.

We want to hear from patients and those who support them, doctors, PAs, AAs, a wide range of healthcare professionals, and healthcare organisations.

It is important that we understand how the matters covered in this consultation relate to the different regions and environments where the professionals we regulate work. We encourage individuals and organisations from all four countries of the UK, as well as Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories to take part.

The draft guidance covers the care of people from birth to their 18th birthday. This is a large age group, with significant variance. Children and young people across this age range will require different levels and types of support, and may move between a variety of services and healthcare settings as they develop. It’s important that the guidance speaks to these complexities, while remaining sufficiently high level, in order to be relevant to everyone it covers.

Your feedback will shape the updated guidance and help us to support doctors, PAs, and AAs to deliver good, safe, patient care. It will also help contribute to workplace cultures that are respectful, fair, supportive, and compassionate for all.

The consultation is open for 12 weeks, from 24 September 2026 to 17 December 2026.