Understanding Our Approach to Consent at Willow Grace Perinatal & Holistic Therapies
Ensuring that you, our clients, provide conscious and informed consent before any treatment or examination is fundamental to what we do at Willow Grace Perinatal & Holistic Therapies. This is because it’s the right thing for you and also fulfils our legal responsibilities. Below is an overview of how we approach consent, to help you understand how we ensure your comfort and rights are respected during your treatment. If you have any questions on this please get in touch or talk to your therapist.
What is consent?
Consent in our context, is the conscious choice from you to proceed with the treatment or intimate examination we are offering.
We must gain your consent prior to any treatment or women’s health physiotherapy examination. Your consent must be:
- Voluntary: Not influenced by pressure from anyone else.
- Informed: Based on a clear understanding of the risks, benefits, other options, and what happens if you decide not to proceed with a treatment or examination.
- Given by someone with the capacity to decide: You must be in a position to understand the information and use it to make an informed decision.
We will always respect and support your decision, whatever you decide.
How will we help you to give informed consent?
The provision and sharing of information is crucial to informed consent. We will always strive to:
- provide detailed information about the proposed treatment/examination in a form you can understand
- support you with an interpreter if you would like it
- ensure written documentation is available in accessible formats
- share the advantages and any disadvantages of what we are proposing
- allow sufficient time for you to digest the information and ask questions prior to any treatment or examination
How will we confirm you consent?
We will look for at least one of the following from you, dependent on the situation:
- Verbal Consent: By saying you’re happy to proceed.
- In Writing: By signing a consent form, this may be on paper or electronic.
- Non-verbally: For example, by getting undressed and onto the treatment bed.
We will look for your consent at every appointment.
Consent from Children and Young People
If you are a young person (aged 16 or 17), then we will presume you have the capacity to provide consent unless something makes us believe otherwise.
If you are under 16, or bringing someone under 16 for a treatment, we will need someone with parental responsibility to provide the consent.
Role of a Chaperone
Given the intimate nature of some of what we do (for example a vaginal examination as part of a women’s health physiotherapy treatment), we will gladly make a chaperone available for you. If you choose to have a chaperone present, we will look to confirm your consent for the treatment in the presence of the chaperone.
When Consent is Not Needed
We will not proceed with any treatment or examination at Willow Grace Perinatal & Holistic Therapies without your consent.
Raising Concerns/Complaints
If you have concerns about your treatment or consent, you can contact us. Julia Walder will ensure your concerns are thoroughly investigated and provide feedback on the outcome, supporting you throughout, as appropriate.
Record Keeping
We keep records of your treatment and how you consented to it in a secure online system. If a person with parental responsibility provides consent for a child, their name and their relationship to the child will also be recorded.
Additional Information on Informed Consent at Willow Grace
Please ask your therapist if you’d like to see our full consent policy.
Here is more detail on the NHS approach to consent, which is very similar to our approach.
