Valid consent in the acute hospital setting: perspectives of patients and members of the public.

Background: People who interact with healthcare services have an ethical and legal right to control their own lives, to make informed decisions, and to consent to what happens to them. For consent to be considered ethically and legally valid, three key criteria must be met: consent must be given voluntarily; people must be sufficiently informed of all options; and people should have capacity to make the decision to give or withhold their consent.

Aim: This study set out to explore, through the use of surveys, the perspectives of patients and public in relation to consent.