General Practitioners – useful safeguarding links & resources
Our aim is to share current and relevant updates and topics relating to safeguarding that may be of interest to GP’s and other primary care practitioners and support staff.
Referrals
All adult and children safeguarding referrals are managed by Manchester City Council – refer to the Concerned page for information about how to make a referral or to ask about Early Help.
- You can contact the MHCC Safeguarding Team at cmccg.safeguardingpw@nhs.net or visit their website at www.mhcc.nhs.uk
Resources for GPs
RCGP Toolkits
The RCGP Safeguarding Adults at Risk of Harm toolkit provides info-sheets, templates and handy guides for all the primary care team. The toolkit assists good knowledge and use of relevant legislation when promoting good care for adults at risk of harm, or those lacking the capacity to make decisions for themselves.
- The toolkit can be found at www.rcgp.org.uk/safeguarding-adults-at-risk-of-harm-toolkit
The RCGP have produced a toolkit which consists of a series of practical workbooks for GPs and the primary healthcare team to recognise when a child, under the age of 18, may be at risk of abuse. This complete publication explains how GPs and health professionals play key roles in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
- The toolkit is available online or as a download from their website at www.rcgp.org.uk/the-rcgp-nspcc-safeguarding-children-toolkit-for-general-practice
NHS Guidance
This NHS Guidance for GPs sets out the Primary Care Standards for completing a report for an Initial Child Protection Case Conference (may be out of date)
GMC Guidance
This short guide summarises the key points from the GMC guidance Protecting children and young people: the responsibilities of all doctors for GPs
- The guide can be found on the GMC website at www.gmc-uk.org/Short_guide_for_GPs
Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The CQC offer guidance on care standards and set out what they look at when they inspect and monitor a service; and the requirements set out by government regulations.
- Find the guidance on their website www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/gps
Child Protection Evidence
- Find our more on their website at www.rcpch.ac.uk/child-protection-evidence
NSPCC have published a series of flyers for health professionals working with children which detail aspects of physical child abuse – these will be of use to a wide range of professionals in different disciplines who work with children and young people and their families.
- Find links to these resources on the RCPCH website at www.rcpch.ac.uk/guidance-resources-child-protection-evidence
Training & Online Learning for GPs
The CQC expect all healthcare providers to follow the guidance in the Intercollegiate Document for Healthcare Staff; Safeguarding Children and Young people: roles and competences for health care staff (March 2014). This sets out the minimum training requirements required:
- Level 1: for all non-clinical staff (e.g. receptionists and practice managers)
- Level 2: for all dentists and dental care professionals
- Level 3: for paediatric dentists and paediatric orthodontists (i.e. those who could potentially contribute to assessing, planning, intervening and evaluating the needs of a child or young person and parenting capacity where there are safeguarding / child protection concerns). Level 3 training is not normally required for dentists and dental care professionals working in general dental practice.
This guidance states that safeguarding training should be refreshed every three years. Level 1 and Level 2 training refresher can be undertaken via online training courses. Level 1 training should last a minimum of two hours, level 2 a minimum of three hours.
A video released by Nottingham about changing a recording practice is aimed at GPs – it is only 2 minutes long – and may be helpful to encourage people to think about changes in practice.
Information Sharing
This was set out in the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015Â which aimed to reduce anxiety about data sharing. The 2013 Caldicott Review found that in some cases this anxiety meant patient information was not shared, even when sharing would have been in the best interest of the patient.
NHS Digital have produced guidance to help practitioners put these duties into practice, so that patients receive the best possible care, while their information is protected.
- Find this on the NHS Digital website at digital.nhs.uk/information-sharing-resources
General advice for practitioners can be found in our information governance resource
