Exam Pass Notes

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Use these notes to revise the key points from Consent, Choice and Patient Autonomy for Optical Support Staff.

Memory spine: Explain, Check, Respect, Pause, Escalate, Record

• Explain: tell the person what is proposed, what it involves, whether it is optional and any relevant costs.
• Check: confirm the person is willing to proceed, especially before close-contact tasks, taking images, providing optional services or sharing information.
• Respect: accept refusal and avoid pressure, embarrassment, repeated pushing or assumptions about their decision.
• Pause: stop if the person appears confused, distressed, pressured or uncertain.
• Escalate: involve a registrant, manager, safeguarding lead or an urgent route when consent is unclear or risk is higher.
• Record: document concerns, refusal or withdrawal, companion pressure, communication support and any escalation, following local procedure.

Core exam points

• Valid consent: must be informed, voluntary, specific to the decision and ongoing.
• Implied consent: appropriate for simple routine tasks only, and only when the person understands what is happening.
• Express consent: preferable for optional, chargeable, personal, close-contact or higher-impact actions.
• Support-staff boundary: give practical information. Escalate clinical risk, diagnosis, test results and treatment questions to a registrant.
• Autonomy: patients may choose options staff would not select, provided they have capacity and are not being pressured.
• Capacity: presume adults can decide. Support understanding first and escalate concerns rather than making a formal capacity assessment alone.
• Children and companions: listen to the patient, do not assume another person has authority, and escalate uncertainty.
• Pressure: sales targets, family pressure and rushed processes can undermine voluntary consent.
• Records: keep notes factual, proportionate and consistent with local policy.

Practical reminders

Use plain language. Make optional services and costs clear. Offer time and privacy when needed. Ask before touch or close work. Do not use personal opinions to push a decision. If you are unsure whether the person understands, is free to choose or has authority to decide, pause and escalate.