Boys being circumcised without the consent of two parents

LAW REQUIRES CLINICS TO GET THE OK FROM MUMS AND DADS

CHILDREN are being circumcised without both of their parents’ consent at a private clinic in Leicester, according to health inspectors.

Staff from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the Community Health Centre in Melbourne Road, where a private, twice-weekly circumcision clinic is run.

A summary of the service provided in the report said: “The service provides circumcision to those under 18 years of age for non-therapeutic reasons, under local anaesthetic.

“The clinic also sees adults for nontherapeutic circumcision.”

It added that the majority of circumcisions carried out at the Highfields clinic were on babies under 12 months.

Operations are carried out by one “appropriately trained and experienced” male surgeon, aided by a healthcare assistant.

The service was rated as “requires improvement”, in part down to the fact that children were being operated on without evidence that both parents had agreed to the procedure.

British Medical Association and General Medical Council guidelines state: “Where a child has two parents with parental responsibility, doctors considering circumcising a child must satisfy themselves that both have given valid consent.

“If a child presents with only one parent, the doctor must make every effort to contact the other parent in order to seek consent.”

The report said: “The service had developed protocols and procedures to ensure consent for the circumcision had been given by both parents (unless it was proven that the parent had sole responsibility for the child).

“However, this was not being obtained consistently by the clinic.

“We saw four records where only one parent had provided written consent.”

Staff at the service said they would take immediate action to address it.

CQC also staff said in the report that while the service had developed a protocol and process to check and record the identity of both the patient and parents, checks on birth certificates, parental driving licences and passports were not being recorded.

Inspectors also criticised the service for not ensuring effective communication with the patient’s own GP practice following the circumcision procedure, and said it needed to better communicate with other professionals.

Inspectors said: “We saw that the service provided letters to patients or their parents once the procedure had been carried out and asked them to hand them to their GP.

“This relied on the patient handing this information over and did not provide assurance that this would happen in all instances.”

Inspectors said the room where circumcisions took place was clean and well maintained, while feedback given to inspectors was “uniformly positive”.

Dr G Rauf, of Leicester Medicare, said: “The circumcision clinic is an independent, privately-run service and aims to provide an excellent friendly service to communities that require circumcision.

“We were pleased to receive a visit by CQC and found the team extremely supportive and encouraging.

“We are proud that the main part of the service, where patients and family were very pleased, which involves the actual practical procedure and follow up were faultless and risk-free.

“However, no service is perfect, we always endeavour to deliver a better service. In that spirit, the CQC’s recommendations were received in a very positive manner.”