The Consultation Pack – a video presentation

Consultation Pack is currently being updated

Welcome to our presentation on the My Medical Choice consultation pack.

My Medical Choice believes in the right to bodily autonomy and informed consent.

In order to support our members’ rights, we provide them with a number of tools to enable the choice of treatments and surgical procedures that is best for them. Members receive legal documents, reference material and educational help sheets as part of their welcome pack when they join us. If scheduled for surgery or other medical appointments, the consultation pack is especially useful.

The Consultation Pack is designed to help My Medical Choice members navigate the stressful experience that is the medical consultation appointment. It can also help members negotiate the choice of treatments they prefer, and refuse others they don’t want. This presentation gives an introduction to each of the documents in the pack and briefly explains how and why each one is used.

The Pre-op Guide for members was created to help you get the best possible outcome from medical appointments. The pdf guide helps you plan a strategy to achieve the best options for your treatment or surgery by proposing ways to prepare for your appointment. For example, the document suggests how to ask the right questions of your consultant and how to act during the appointment to avoid argument and minimise stress.

The document also provides a list of alternatives to proposed treatments and procedures you may prefer, and there is a handy, at-a-glance information section highlighting your rights.

The Pre-Op Consultation Guide is a short document that you hand to the nurse before you start the appointment. The main purpose of the document is to introduce the consultant to the sort of issues that concern My Medical Choice members most, particularly regarding blood transfusion.

The document’s purpose is to avoid confrontation of any kind by gently informing the medical staff involved that you are aware of the various alternatives to blood transfusion and know your rights regarding freedom of choice and informed consent.

We suggest members take a copy of their own Trust policy document ‘Patients Who Refuse Blood’ with them to a pre-op consultation because it is a powerful tool. You present this document at your consultation appointment. The medical staff must accept that the Trust has a written policy that details the strategies they must follow when handling patients who refuse blood.

Furthermore, the policy document makes clear that even in the case of an emergency, if the patient is carrying a valid Advance Decision Notice, such as the one our members use, then the directives in the notice should be followed.

This document is a powerful reference tool. Essentially, it’s a manual outlining patients’ rights and the expected standards of behaviour required of NHS staff whilst on duty. You may find it helpful to go through the document before your appointment and highlight any sections you think may be of use in your particular circumstances.

To assist our members with their preparation, the important sections from this document have already been included for reference. You’ll find them in page three of the Pre-op Guide For Members. They are listed in the text box: A Quick Look at Your Rights.

This concludes our presentation on the My Medical Choice Pre-op Consultation Pack. We hope you found it both useful and informative and welcome any feedback you may have after using the pack for your appointment.

Thank you for watching.