Why the GMC consultation on children’s voices matters

Think back to being eleven and sitting in a doctor’s surgery: the adults talk over your head, using words you don’t quite understand, and when someone finally asks how you’re feeling, your mum answers before you can. You leave with a plan for your own body, one you had very little say in.

For many children and young people, that experience is still far too familiar. That’s why a new consultation from the General Medical Council deserves attention from everyone who works with, or cares about, young people.

The GMC is updating its guidance on the care and treatment of children and young people, with a consultation that opened on 24 September 2026 and closes at 11.59pm on 17 December 2026. The guidance covers children and young people from birth to their 18th birthday.

It has been more than ten years since the guidance was last updated, and the GMC acknowledges that health services and wider society have changed a great deal in that time. The draft brings together two existing documents, 0-18 years and Protecting children and young people, into a single guide. Alongside that, the updates aim to support better communication and decision making between the professionals involved in a child’s care, the patients themselves and those with caring responsibilities.

Reporting on the draft, Doctors.net.uk – by doctors, for doctors noted that it asks doctors to actively involve young patients and their families in children’s care, and describes safeguarding as a core part of providing good care. Doctors

The existing guidance is already clear on the principle. Doctors must take children’s and young people’s views seriously and not dismiss their concerns, fears or views because of their age, and even where a child isn’t mature enough to decide for themselves, their views and preferences still count when assessing their best interests.

The challenge has never really been the principle. It’s the practice.

Children don’t always find it easy to speak up in a clinical room, especially with a parent or carer sitting beside them. The GMC recognises this too, noting that having a parent present can sometimes discourage a young person from being open about what has happened to them or about the worries they have. For a child in care, a young carer, or a teenager navigating something they’re embarrassed about, the barriers are even higher.

When a young person’s voice is missing, decisions are made on incomplete information. A treatment plan might look sensible on paper but fall apart because it doesn’t fit the young person’s life. A safeguarding concern might go unnoticed because nobody created the space for a child to share it. Listening isn’t a nice extra. It’s how good decisions get made.

When a regulator as influential as the GMC reinforces that children’s views must shape their care, it sends a clear message across the whole system. Participation is a professional expectation, not a box to tick.

That’s exactly the spirit behind this consultation. Good guidance sets the standard, but children also need practical, accessible ways to express their views, feelings and wishes, in their own words and on their own terms. When professionals have that insight in front of them, conversations become more honest and decisions become better informed.

Consultations like this are shaped by the people who respond. If you work with children and young people, whether in health, social care or education, your experience is exactly what the GMC needs to hear.

You can read the draft guidance and respond through the consultation page: here

Because every child deserves to walk out of that room feeling like they were part of the conversation about their own life.