4 Response Accepted in Part

Reflection period for consent

Recommendation

We recommend that there should be a short period introduced into the process of patients giving consent for surgical procedures, to allow them time to reflect on their diagnosis and treatment options. The GMC should monitor this as part of Good Medical Practice.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- In December 2021, the government accepted this recommendation in principle, stating that GMC guidance on consent (updated 2020) already emphasises that patients should have time to consider information before making decisions and should not be put under pressure (Government Response to the Paterson Inquiry, DHSC, December 2021).
- The December 2022 implementation update stated that NHS England had established a Shared Decision-Making Board, mandated two-stage decision-making for all admitted non-day case pathways by April 2023 and all admitted pathways by April 2024, and published 11 decision support tools in July 2022 with 8 additional tools scheduled for April 2023 (Paterson Inquiry Implementation Update, DHSC, December 2022).
- The Professional Record Standards Body published a shared decision-making standard in June 2022 (Paterson Inquiry Implementation Update, DHSC, December 2022).
- The Independent Healthcare Providers Network refreshed the Medical Practitioners Assurance Framework in September 2022, specifying policies on consent, decision-making, and allowing appropriate time for decisions (Paterson Inquiry Implementation Update, DHSC, December 2022).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The evidence above reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.
Jurisdiction
England
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
16 Dec 2021

Accepted in principle. GMC guidance on consent (updated 2020) already emphasises patients should have time to consider information before making decisions. The guidance states patients should not be placed under pressure to make decisions quickly. NHS England is working with Royal Colleges to embed cooling-off periods in clinical practice for elective procedures. Full implementation being monitored. (Source: Government Response, December 2021)

Source
Inquiry Paterson Inquiry
Report Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Issues raised by Paterson 04 Feb 2020
View Source
Responsible Bodies
GMC Primary
Themes & Tags
No person-centred care Inadequate Pre-Operative Risk Assessment Consent Reflection Surgery Gmc
Recommendation age 6.3 yrs
Last formal update 1627 days ago