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Part of Proxy access: advice and guidance

Roles and responsibilities

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Use of the terms must and should in this guidance

Within a health and care organisation, the clinical professional responsible for a patient's care is ultimately accountable for decisions about proxy access. Staff can support clinical professionals with certain steps of the process, but only with appropriate training.

To this end, the term "clinical professional" is used in this document to refer to steps that are solely clinical responsibilities and cannot be delegated, for example assessments of Gillick competence.

The term "clinical professionals and staff" is used to refer to steps where staff can support clinical professionals, with appropriate training and oversight.

Last edited: 6 May 2026 4:33 pm

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Glossary

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Use of the terms must and should in this guidance

Chapters

  1. Proxy access: advice and guidance
  2. Glossary
  3. Roles and responsibilities
  4. Use of the terms "must" and "should" in this guidance
  5. Process overview
  6. Step 1: Determine if proxy access is appropriate, that is, if the benefits outweigh the risks
  7. Step 2: Evaluate the safety of proxy access
  8. Step 3a: Get the patient's informed consent to proxy access
  9. Step 3b: Inform the patient about the opportunity of self-access
  10. Step 4: Rely on another basis for access if the patient cannot provide consent
  11. Step 5: Check if the proxy has proven their identity to access online services
  12. Step 6: Understand if anyone else should have proxy access to the patient’s record
  13. Step 7: Redact sensitive information from the proxy’s view based on what is being shared
  14. Step 8: Grant proportionate and time-bound proxy access
  15. Step 9: Communicate the decision to grant or deny proxy access
  16. Step 10: Review and manage access on an ongoing basis
  17. Appendix 1: complex scenarios in relation to granting and managing parental access