To not send a photo to the Dr?

The day I was asked to send a pic of one of my dcs face (part of their right cheeks and mouth, so not whole face) to the surgery, they sent me a secure nhs surgery link where I had to click, log in using dc date of birth and nhs no, then upload the photo to their system and log out. It was encoded so that only they could access and view it and either put it in dcs record or remove it afterwards. I think I could remove it too but I can't remember.

If they wanted me to send a pic of dc's bum, they'd definitely use the same secure system, not through email.

It's a sensitive but medical pic taken for medical reasons uploaded to a medical system for assessment and diagnosis from a medical professional. It's different from a random pic of a child's bumhole taken for no reason. I deleted dcs side face from my phone afterwards and I'd sure delete the pic of their bum afterwards. There's no criminal offence there. It's not a "computer says no" type of issue where the circumstances aren't taken into account.

Also, I'm sure dc would actually prefer I took the pic of their bum simply to show a doc so that they can get some medical treatment as opposed to showing a doc their bum irl. That's mortifying. They're more comfortable with me doing so, as they trust me and I'm not just 'any grown adult', than a doc who is technicially the 'random grown adult' regardless of profession.

You should not be expected to send any pictures of an intimate area to the doctor or any area you feel uncomfortable with. Plesee do not feel compelled to do this. Surgeries in the uk usually make it clear that no pictures of intimate areas should be sent and that includes a child’s

I wouldn't send a picture of this or any other intimate area for that matter,
It is a criminal offence to do so anyway.

Thanks @VegTrug

Ian a pretty relaxed parent on the whole and I would draw a firm line on this one. You have zero control over this image once you hit send. They wouldn’t ask an adult to send a picture of their anus so why on earth it is ok to take a child who doesn’t understand the concept of “consent” to do the same.

I would refuse and ask it is documented you are not comfortable with this and demand an in person appointment.

also, I know the chances are slim BUT a member of staff could take a photo of your photo on their phone and send it to anyone they wish

Well I have learnt something today!

Have you treated for thrush?

I also wouldn't bother checking for worms. Just treat anyway. Never understood the torch at night thing.

If treatment those things don't clear it up then someone needs a look. I don't think I'd be comfortable taking a photo of my kids backside like

The only way to fully guarantee it's all gone is to smash the hard drive within the device. This used to be part of my job and oh boy it was fun!

Maybe but can you really see a judge actually prosecuting this? I can't. The law isn't there to stop parents accessing medical help. Especially if it's not the parent's idea to take the photo.

It's not ok for ANY adult to take photos of intimate parts of children under any circumstances.

@VegTrug - that's always been my concern. No inappropriate images but I'd prefer the 1000000x photos of my child aren't accessible to strangers. We've got all our old devices in a cupboard. Can you recommend how to destroy/ appropriately recycle them?

I don't think it's teaching children this at all. It's ok for certain trusted adults (parents and doctors) to cross the 'boundaries' sometimes. Unless the child is against itm Boundaries is more about inappropriate contact and consent which this isn't.

The child's identity will be linked to the photo as otherwise the surgery won't know which patient it is.

It's just not an appropriate or secure way of handling this.

But you're telling that child it's ok for an adult to cross your boundaries and take a photo of an intimate area. "It's just a bumhole" doesn't wash with me. It's the boundary of an adult invading a child's right to privacy that I, and clearly the OP and others, object to.

Bum isn't genitals. For a medical reason I don't see an issue. If it was zoomed in would it even be obvious that it was a child not an adult?

Or we could not normalise adults taking photos of children's genitalia.

His face won't be in it so even if it got leaked (don't think that would happen) no one would ever know it was him.

People are extremely tech naive even now.

Email is not secure. Our doctors are not even allowed to send messages via email. I'm also not in the UK.

You cannot guarantee complete confidentiality on the phone /device used to take the picture or the carrier systems scanning for potentially illegal content. Brutally, I'd be surprised if you can guarantee 100% on your own systems - you can only minimise risk.

If you are in the UK what you are asking people to do potentially illegal.

I never check - I just give the medicine if they’re itchy in their bum hole.

Its not a harmful medicine.

I’m surprised any GP is suggesting this. I’d have thought it would be NHSwide policy not to.

well said.

now think about the trip that photo takes from your phone to the surgery software. its uploaded to your phone cloud (if you have one). It goes through your internet providers network, your email provider, through then the same at the other end - surgery email provider, onto the NHS network, then possibly into the surgery database, possibly on some other NHS database. that is a lot of touchpoints to trust. some will be scanning for obscene material and this could flag up. people can intercept traffic at multiple stages. and this photo is replicated at each point. once you put a photo out onto the internet, it is never safely deleted.