Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

5. Mr E complains that in February 2025, the Trust administered Master B with a HPV vaccine at his school which was directly against Mr E’s wishes. Mr E specifically complains the Trust: • administered a vaccine to his 13-year-old son despite knowing his parental objection • failed to recognise or escalate safeguarding red flags including parental alienation, coercion and misinformation • failed to provide balanced, age-appropriate clinical advice to his son • failed to include him in a major medical decision, breaching his rights under Children Act 1989 • failed to uphold their duties under the NHS confidentiality Code or Practice regarding the Gillick competency test • failed to respond lawfully to his Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) and • failed to justify their refusal to provide his son’s clinical records including the Gillick assessment.

6. Mr E says this affected both him and Master B psychologically and caused their relationship to deteriorate. Mr E says the impact of this is ongoing and profound.

7. Mr E is seeking financial redress to recognise the impact of the Trust’s actions on him and his son.

8. Master B was given a HPV vaccine at school in February 2025 by a community nurse from the Trust. Mr E had previously objected to Master B having the vaccine due to research he had done.

9. As Master B wanted the HPV vaccine, the nurse conducted a Gillick Competency Assessment which found Master B to have capacity to make his own medical decision.

10. Children under the age of 16 can consent to their own treatment if they're believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what's involved in their treatment. This is known as being Gillick competent.

11. On 8 February 2025 Mr E raised a formal complaint to the Trust that Master B was given the vaccine against Mr E’s wishes. The Trust provided their first response to Mr E’s complaint on 10 April 2025.

12. On 10 April 2025 Mr E returned to the Trust with outstanding concerns that he did not feel were addressed by the Trust in their first response. The Trust provided their further, final response on 7 May 2025.

13. Mr E has approached the Trust on three further occasions to request Master B’s medical records, all of his requests have been declined.

Confidentiality, Privacy and Safeguarding

16. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns. Some complaints can be looked at by us, and also by other organisations. We have considered whether another organisation is better suited to giving an answer to the complaint and whether it can provide the outcome Mr E seeks.

17. Mr E has told us that he is unhappy that the Trust did not provide him access to Master B’s medical records under the DSAR. He also says the Trust did not provide him with specific information regarding the Gillick Competency Assessment conducted on Master B as requested under Mr E’s DSAR.

18. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's independent regulator for data protection. Its main job is to make sure that organisations handle people’s personal information properly and follow the law. It helps people understand their rights over their data and takes action if businesses or public bodies misuse or don’t protect personal data.

19. As Mr E is unhappy that the Trust withheld Master B’s medical records, this falls under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is more appropriately investigated by the ICO.

Confidentiality, Privacy and Safeguarding, and Choice and Consent

20. When considering a complaint, we need to look at what information it would be reasonable for us to request from an organisation, and whether we have consent from any parties involved to do so.

21. Mr E complains the Trust should have recognised and reported safeguarding concerns relating to manipulation, coercion and parent alienation experienced by Master B by his mother. He also says the Trust overrode his parental right to object to medical treatment provided to Master B by conducting a Gillick Competency Assessment.

22. To investigate whether the Trust should have recognised and raised any safeguarding concerns, we would need to request Master B’s medical records. We do not have the relevant consent to do so and are therefore unable to reach a decision on this aspect of Mr E’s complaint.

23. We would also need Master B’s medical records to consider whether the Trust’s decision to conduct a Gillick Competency Assessment was appropriate. In the circumstances, we are unable to consider this further.

24. Complaints give us valuable insight into the organisations we investigate, so we would like to thank Mr E for sharing his experience with us. It is also important to acknowledge that our decision does not detract from Mr E’s experience, or the upset and frustration these events have caused him.

1. We have carefully considered Mr E’s complaint about the Trust administering his 13-year-old son, Master B, with a HPV vaccine against Mr E’s wishes following a Gillick Competency Assessment. We are sorry to learn of Mr E’s concerns and we understand the upset that this experience has caused.

2. We have seen Mr E is unhappy that the Trust withheld his son’s medical records from Mr E and information relating to the vaccination. We believe it is more appropriate for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to consider this aspect of Mr E’s complaint.

3. We have also considered Mr E’s concerns that the Trust failed to recognise and raise potential safeguarding concerns relating to coercion and parent alienation from Master B’s Mother. We are unable to consider these aspects of Mr E’s complaint further as we do not have the relevant consent to do so.

4. We are sorry we are unable to take further action on the concerns raised by Mr E. We can see Mr E feels strongly about his complaint which is motivated by his son’s wellbeing. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr E for bringing his complaint to us.