Doctors surgery of DS 11yo has removed my proxy access - normal?

[PieceOfString]

I have had a letter from ds doctors surgery advising me that my access to his medical records is removed and he must now self-manage his own access to his GP and all that entails (text reminders for repeat prescriptions etc.
I was surprised, ultimately personal independence is what we as parents are working towards of course, but I just was expecting it to be more gradual / at time of his own choosing / older age.
11 just seems to be young? Is this normal? Do other people find their 11yo are ready to take up managing their own repeat prescriptions etc? fwiw he doesn't have any serious conditions just asthma which he has a repeat for.
I was going to speak to the surgery to enquire if this is practice policy or a national thing but thought they might take umbrage and actually I'm wondering if it is my expectations which are out of line as I navigate this stuff for the first time?

Surely that is a mistake. 11 is far too young IMO.

Doesnt sound right, I would call them.

That seems young. We offer it from 14.

Are you in the UK?
11 sounds ridiculously young. I think it was 16 for DS (now 19).

Are you sure they haven't got the wrong birth date recorded - I'd check?

I thought it was 16, 11 must be an error.

Oh don't get me started!! We've had this with our 12 year old - I posted a thread about it a few weeks ago. Our GP surgery has informed us that Ds healthcare is no longer anything to do with us, it's between him and them. Ds is not happy about this at all! He is a young 12 (more like 10 really), and wont see a GP on his own and wouldn't understand how to manage a medical condition by himself anyway. Its bloody ridiculous!!

If it's not an error then I would try to change surgeries.
11 is too young to be responsible for health care. That's the parents' job.

I personally wouldn’t take Gillick consent from an 11 year old at work, so I wonder what the GP’s are going to do about it.
What happens if the child has SEN’s and is unable to ?

RCGP advise that access should be switched off at age 11. At the surgery where I work we send a letter to 11 year olds and their parents to tell them we are doing this. It is done to protect the child's confidentiality as they approach teenage years. Parents can re-apply for proxy access but the child will be included in the decision and access is likely to be limited.

It was 16 for DS, which was too young for him because he's an average teen boy who thinks hanging out with your mates is more important than taking a call from the GP and made things difficult until he wrote to the GP.

11 seems very young to me, 14 would be more appropriate IMO.

This is insane. No 11 year old is capable of knowing the apparently unconnected (in 11 yo's head) information that might be critically important to a diagnosis. They certainly couldn't for eg get themselves a CAMHs referral for suicidal ideation. Most of them can't even get themselves to the surgery alone.

This feels like a really disturbing extension of/ adjunct to the current push by gender extremists to get parents excluded from their children's decision making.

Thank You everyone for your replies. I'm glad it wasn't just me whose eyebrows went up! At least I feel I have a better gauge on whether I am babying him or not, so I will discuss this with him and probably go through the process of him giving them permission for me to continue as his proxy. What a palava though just to continue managing his life admin for him which is hardly unusual for an 11 year old to need!
Personally I think this is ridiculous to have a blanket policy of taking parents off and then having them reapply - I would have thought the 11yo wanting to take this on themselves were very much in the minority so this is just making work for everyone!

aftonwater Glad to hear it isn't just my practice. But from the back office pov do you think this advice is a good idea as well as being well-intentioned? Wouldn't it make more sense for the young person to request confidentiality if they need it?

@LitCrit

This is insane. No 11 year old is capable of knowing the apparently unconnected (in 11 yo's head) information that might be critically important to a diagnosis. They certainly couldn't for eg get themselves a CAMHs referral for suicidal ideation. Most of them can't even get themselves to the surgery alone.

This feels like a really disturbing extension of/ adjunct to the current push by gender extremists to get parents excluded from their children's decision making.

I find it very disturbing tbh. It has made me distrust our GP surgery a bit.

The letter we had did say ds could permit proxy again and there were procedures for special needs but it seems a bit back to front to me. It would make more sense to keep the status quo until they were 16ish and change if there was a need to do so. Maybe if I was an abused young person I might feel differently? 11 though!

I completely agree. I've actually put a complaint into PALS because my 11 year old son missed an important appointment (there was a cancellation) as he was at school and they wouldn't give me the details. It was for a hand injury that I'd attended with him. Eventually they agreed to email a second appointment to his school email address which he then logged in so that I could complete the four pages of health details and covid checks.

Goodness I havent heard anything from my GP im assuming they have to send a letter if they do this?! I have an 11 and a 14 year old and even the 14 year old couldn't deal with this sort of stuff by himself, no special needs, its just being a teenager anything the Doctor sent would be bottom of the pile of things to worry about under football, PlayStation and girls!

MissyB1 yes! I felt that too! As though I was being pushed out and they were becoming between me and my child who still needs my support. If he had a doctors appointment without me it is highly likely he would miss out key information not knowing what was important to include or not, just like LitCrit says, and he certainly wouldn't convey the doctors advice to me accurately, and likely wouldn't remember half of it, or be sure if he'd remembered the right bits. And for every abused young person this helps I bet there is another 2 or 3 who find themselves distanced from GP care by the fact that their parent isn't able to find the mental/time resources to pick up the change and react to it to keep access to ongoing services provision. Everyone I know from/in families who are struggling, find it is this type of additional admin load which creates barriers to accessing health care!

Sounds wrong!

Check they have his D of B correct. We moved back to U.K. when ds was 23 months and registered with GP and they put the year of registering

My ds had a letter at 16yo telling him this and he wanted proxy access still for me as he's autistic and so we arranged that and he's a linked profile on my nhs app.

And his neurology/ genetics letters etc all come to the parent guardian of xxxxx.

I can't even remember if he asked them specifically to do this as he turned 16 in the middle of this pandemic.

If he had a doctors appointment without me it is highly likely he would miss out key information not knowing what was important to include or not

I agree 11 seems young, but you won’t be prevented from attending appointments will you? If it what he wants?

That seems truly ridiculous & leaving themselves wide open to lawsuits when things invariably go wrong. I assumed 16 was the age they were allowed to see the GP by themselves. I wonder where 11 cones from? As far as I know it’s 13 for data protection stuff at school.

I remember when my DD was 11/12 years old (she's now in her mid 20's), our GP told her that she was allowed to contact the surgery and book an appointment without either my DH or my knowledge if there was anything troubling her. Also she didn't have to allow us into any of her consultations with the GP if she preferred not to and the GP wouldn't be allowed to tell us what was discussed without my DD permission.

Obviously nowadays with everything being accessible through the NHS/GP app the GP wouldn't be able to provide confidentiality for the youngster if parents still had access to their data.

If it's a blanket decision across the board that at a certain age the parents can't have continued access to youngsters medical data without their approval it protects the youngsters out there who have strict or even abusive parents who may not be happy with them going to see their GP about certain medical matters.

Under 16's have always been able to see a GP independently and the consult is confidential.

That I absolutely agree should happen.

But to say at 11 a parent must have permission from the child for proxy access seems too young.

I do think 14 is a good age but I'd be wary of that because of yr 9 vaccines. I think it has to be child's choice but certainly you cannot risk them being missed.

@Ducksurprise

I completely agree. I've actually put a complaint into PALS because my 11 year old son missed an important appointment (there was a cancellation) as he was at school and they wouldn't give me the details. It was for a hand injury that I'd attended with him. Eventually they agreed to email a second appointment to his school email address which he then logged in so that I could complete the four pages of health details and covid checks.

That’s insane. How many 11 year olds could manage to deal with that in their own?

itsgettingwierd not an error, the letter stated the change was because of him turning 11 and he is 11. Crackers!