Children want more information from medics

FOUR OUT OF FIVE children believe they should be given more information about what is going to happen to them when they enter the health system for treatment, a Europe-wide survey has found.

The report, by Dr Ursula Kilkelly of the Faculty of Law at University College Cork, also found that, when asked what they would like to change about the health system, two out of three said that health professionals should listen to children more.

The survey, commissioned by the Council of Europe, also found that 60 per cent of children believed health professionals should talk more to children and 55 per cent believed health professionals should be friendly.

But when questioned about their existing experience of dealing with health professionals, the responses were generally positive with 85 per cent of respondents saying that the health professional spoke directly to them and just nine per cent said they did not.

The survey involved 2,257 children, the vast majority aged between 10 and 18 years, across 22 countries including Ireland where the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, consulted with 125 children aged between nine and 12.

The greatest number, 43 per cent had their last contact with the health system when visiting a doctor while 35 per cent had their last contact with a dentist while a further 12 per cent had their last contact with the health system when visiting hospital.

Some 38 per cent of children said they understood all of what the health professional said to them, 48 per cent understood most of what was said, 12 per cent understood some of it and only 2 per cent understood nothing.

In the Irish context, the majority of children consulted by Logan said health care professionals often speak too quickly and use words that children do not understand, the survey found.

In the majority of cases, 60 per cent of parents or relatives were present when children were being treated but in 30 per cent of cases, children were treated alone.

Some 44 per cent said they would like a parent to be present during treatment and 37 per cent preferred to be alone.

According to Dr Kilkelly, this is likely to be more of an issue for younger children who would like their parents to stay with them in hospital as this was very much the picture to emerge in Ireland from the consultation by the Ombudsman for Children.

The full report on the survey is at coelisbon2011.org.