Things we cannot do

Welfare checks

We cannot visit or phone a patient to check on them for someone else.

If you are worried about someone you cannot contact, it is your responsibility to act. Contact the police, social services or the ambulance service.

Toilet passes for school

We do not write medical letters or toilet passes for individual pupils.

Using the toilet is a matter of basic dignity and school policy. A doctor’s note is not needed.

Access to safe, timely personal hygiene is essential to human dignity. That matters especially to people who have periods, which vary in timing and heaviness.

Some pupils do abuse the right to access personal hygiene, but that is a discipline matter, not a medical one. It is not for the NHS to provide evidence of a child’s continence.

Singling a pupil out as having toileting difficulties is not dignified. There are real medical risks in a child dehydrating deliberately, or holding on, and real harm to their wellbeing in risking an accident at school.

We will not write separate notes for individual pupils. Whether a child can wait until the end of a lesson is a matter for the school, the child and their family.

We consider that all children need to use a toilet when they need to, for urinary, defecation and menstrual reasons.

If your school needs this in writing, we have a standard letter you can print and give them.