Consent, communication, surgery, body donation, and the Human Tissue Act

Consent is always a topical issue. The General Medical Council (GMC) and the Medical Defence associations are always keen to see that patients are treated carefully and in line with good medical practice. Communication is an essential part of consent and if doctor-patient communication is good and is well documented in the notes, problems do not usually occur. Knowing what to communicate, however, is not always clear. This issue of the journal contains some papers that will help answer this question. For those women having gynaecological surgery including hysterectomy and operations for incontinence, patients often ask how soon they can drive after surgery. The answer clearly varies depending on the gynaecologist performing the surgery. National guidelines are needed for consistency.