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As a doctor, you are responsible for ensuring that the treatment you provide meets acceptable clinical, professional and ethical standards for the profession. Treating yourself or someone close to you may affect your ability to meet these standards, and may result in you providing substandard treatment despite your best intentions.

Our draft statement on Treating yourself and those close to you outlines that, wherever possible, doctors should not treat themselves or those with whom they have a close relationship. It acknowledges that there are exceptional circumstances when doctors may have to treat themselves or people close to them, and outlines the measures to take to maintain best practice.

The content of the draft statement is very similar to the current statement, but we have revised the structure and wording, with the intention of making it clearer and easier to navigate. We have added a new section on managing evolving patient relationships.

We welcome your input on our draft statement.
  • You will find the proposed draft statement on Treating yourself and those close to you here.
  • The existing statement Providing care to yourself and those close to you (June 2022) is available here.

The consultation closes on 24 May 2024.

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