I'm not 18 yet. Will you tell my parents/teachers if I start a medication?
No. Young people have the right to the same access to confidential medical treatment as legal adults, and we would respect your wishes if you did want them to know. The rules regarding young people making a decision about their health are complex. If we feel you have the maturity to make an informed decision about your treatment and can understand the information we are telling you, assuming it is clinically safe to do so, we would follow your wishes and treat you without informing anyone else. We would always recommend talking to your parent (it is never as bad as you might think!) about any health issue you have, and would encourage you to do so, but this is not an absolute requirement if you are adamant you do not want to.
Can I e-mail you with medical questions?
This is not possible for a number of reasons. First, we cannot be certain that information sent in this manner is secure, and we may risk leaking medical information to other people. Second, we cannot guarantee we would be able to safely make an assessment from an email; normally we need to ask you questions, either face-to-face, or on the telephone, to assess what problem you may be having and give the most appropriate treatment.
