is an online doctor confidential?
Doctors owe you confidentiality, including if you are under 18, but they cannot promise absolute secrecy. The Medical Council tells doctors they have the same duty of confidentiality to young people as to adults, and that the duty is not absolute: the law, your safety or someone else’s can mean information is shared.
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What the Medical Council tells doctors
“You have the same duty of confidentiality to children and young people as you have to adults.” But “this duty of confidentiality is not absolute.”
If a young person doesn’t want their parents told, the doctor should usually encourage them to involve a parent. If they refuse, and the doctor thinks sharing is necessary and in their best interests, the doctor may consider telling a parent. Parents may also be entitled by law to see their child’s medical records. Doctors are told to say that they “cannot give an absolute guarantee of confidentiality.”
When a doctor has to share
The guide lists times a doctor must disclose information, such as a court order, or where they have reasonable grounds to believe a crime involving sexual assault or other violence has been committed against a child. A doctor who suspects a child is being harmed must report it to the authorities. In exceptional cases a doctor may also share information to protect someone from a risk of serious harm.
What changes online
Your appointment is with the online provider, not your family GP, and the provider’s own privacy terms apply. Read them before you book: they say what it keeps and who it shares it with. Check its age rules too.
Source: Medical Council: Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics, 9th edition 2024, paragraphs 5, 25.2, 26 and 29. Checked 29 October 2026.
See a doctor online, no family GP
Video or phone, depending on the provider. From €34.99: the lowest published weekday fee of the 16 online GPs we list.
Compare online GPs from €34.99Your appointment is with the online provider, not your family GP, and the provider’s own privacy terms apply. Doctors owe young people confidentiality, but can’t promise absolute secrecy (what that means). You pay a fee. Under 18? Check the provider’s age rules before you book. Fees from each provider's own site, checked 29 October 2026, listed on gpcompare.ie.