Ensuring Dignity and Non-Discrimination as Healthcare Professionals

This dignity and non-discrimination course looks at how respect is protected, or lost, in everyday care: an older woman with dementia left in a gown that does not close in a bay visitors can see, a booking system that quietly shuts out people without internet access, a remark about a patient's sexuality made to colleagues. It takes about two hours and is written for every UK healthcare profession.

The course sets these situations against the law and the regulators' standards: the Equality Act 2010, including the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Human Rights Act 1998, CQC Regulation 10 on dignity and respect in England, and the respect and non-discrimination standards of eight regulators. It also covers dignity for staff, including how to respond to discriminatory abuse from patients.

You study at your own pace on our course portal, answer 15 scenario questions and write a short reflective account. A certificate of completion is issued when you pass.

The course is for all UK healthcare professionals, whatever their regulator. It suits:

• doctors, nurses, midwives, dental professionals, pharmacists, optometrists, osteopaths, chiropractors and HCPC-registered professionals who want CPD on equality and respectful care;
• registrants responding to a complaint or a regulator's concern about dismissive comments, discriminatory behaviour or a failure of privacy and dignity;
• team leaders who need to recognise subtle breaches, such as shorter consultations for some groups or failure to book interpreters, and act on them;
• anyone setting a specific, measurable equality goal for appraisal or revalidation.

Not sure this is the right topic? Which course do I need? matches your concern to a course, and the course catalogue lists the rest.

The course ends with a summary, a quick-reference guide, a reference list and your reflective account.

Every UK healthcare regulator requires registrants to treat people with dignity and respect and not to discriminate. The course summarises each one in plain terms. Name the standard below when you record the learning.

Read the current version of your own regulator's standards for the exact wording. Healthcare Practise UK is an independent provider, not affiliated with any regulator. See the GMC and NMC pages for how the standards fit with CPD and revalidation.

Module 7 is written for professionals who are already facing a concern. It is direct about what makes things worse: minimising the concern, blaming the complainant or describing offensive remarks as jokes reads as a lack of insight. What helps is honest engagement, a sincere apology where appropriate, and a plan aimed at the attitude or behaviour behind the concern.

• Seek advice first. Contact your defence organisation, indemnity provider or union before you respond to an investigation.
• Use the course to understand the impact. Modules 2 to 4 explain why the conduct mattered to the patient or colleague, which is the core of insight.
• Reflect in your own words. The course asks which assumptions or habits you will examine or change. Our reflective statement builder helps you structure that account without writing it for you.
• Gather evidence of change. The course example of a doctor who completes training, meets a mentor and asks for multisource feedback shows the kind of sustained evidence that carries weight.

Courses alone are not enough, and no course decides the outcome. NMC guidance, for example, looks at whether a concern has been addressed through the steps a registrant has taken. If dignity sits within a wider complaint, see the communication and complaints pathway.

• About two hours of learning, including reading, reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. Record the time you actually spend.
• Case illustrations throughout, including pharmacy, emergency and GP settings.
• 15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions, with a pass mark of 12 out of 15 (80%).
• A written reflective account that stays on your own device. Save a copy before you close the course.
• A certificate of completion issued by Healthcare Practise UK.

How the hours count depends on your regulator. The NMC, for example, asks for 35 hours of CPD over three years, at least 20 of them participatory; a self-paced online course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others (NMC CPD requirements).

Dignity is part of the Communication and Candour Pack, alongside effective communication, duty of candour, two complaint courses and the Module on Reflection. That pack suits concerns where how someone was spoken to or treated is at the centre of a complaint.

On its own, the closest companions are Ensuring Effective Communication, for listening, interpreters and difficult conversations, and How to Avoid a Complaint or Investigation. If something went wrong and the patient was not told, add Duty of Candour in Healthcare Practice. Where the concern is about conduct and public confidence more broadly, see the conduct and trust pathway.