Safeguarding Children and Young People: Essentials for Health and Care Staff

This safeguarding children training helps health and care staff recognise and respond to the abuse, neglect and exploitation of children and young people. It is written for doctors, nurses, midwives, health visitors, allied health professionals, pharmacy and dental teams, social workers, health care assistants and care staff, and it is deliberately aimed at people in adult services as well as children's services. The emergency doctor treating a father after an overdose, or the mental health nurse caring for a mother with severe depression, is often the person best placed to ask who is looking after the children at home.

The course explains what safeguarding and child protection mean, why the child's voice and lived experience must stay at the centre, and how to "Think Family". It covers the legal frameworks in each UK nation, including recent changes, the four main categories of abuse and their indicators, bruising in non-mobile babies, fabricated or induced illness, children at particular risk, consent and confidentiality with young people, lawful information sharing, and the practical steps of responding to a disclosure, referring, recording and escalating.

It is designed to take approximately 2 hours, including reading, reflection points, a written reflective account and a 15-question assessment. It is self-paced, so you can start straight away on our course portal; browse the course catalogue for related titles. Healthcare Practise UK is an independent provider. We are not affiliated with any UK regulator or the NHS, and no regulator has reviewed this course.

Module 2 covers each nation in turn. In England that means the Children Act 1989 (sections 17, 31 and 47), section 11 of the Children Act 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023. In Wales it means Part 7 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and the Wales Safeguarding Procedures; in Scotland, the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 (updated 2023), GIRFEC and the Interagency Referral Discussion; and in Northern Ireland, the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and Co-operating to Safeguard Children and Young People. Clinical content draws on NICE guideline CG89 and the RCPCH guidance on perplexing presentations and fabricated or induced illness (2021). The regulators expect every registrant to act on concerns about children:

The course flags recent change too: physical punishment of children is now unlawful in Scotland (since 2020) and Wales (since 2022), while a limited defence remains in England and Northern Ireland; and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 creates a mandatory duty for people in regulated activity with children in England to report child sexual abuse. The course notes that commencement and detailed guidance were awaited at the time of writing, so check your employer's current guidance.

• Module 1, Foundations: safeguarding versus child protection, children's rights and the child's voice, your role under the intercollegiate competences (5th edition, 2025) and Think Family.
• Module 2, The law across the UK: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with a comparison table of main law, guidance, reporting duties, physical punishment and review systems.
• Module 3, Recognising abuse and neglect: physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect, any bruise in a non-mobile baby, repeated "was not brought" appointments, and fabricated or induced illness.
• Module 4, Children at particular risk: criminal and sexual exploitation and online harm, domestic abuse and parental factors, disabled children, children in care, young carers, adolescents, self-harm and transition at 18.
• Module 5, Consent, confidentiality and information sharing: Gillick competence and the Fraser guidelines, the Scottish rules on consent under 16, confidentiality with young people, lawful sharing and sexual activity involving under-18s.
• Module 6, Taking action: responding to a disclosure, making a referral, recording and chronologies, escalation and professional challenge, learning from reviews and looking after yourself.

The cases are the ones front-line staff meet: a four-month-old with a small bruise on the cheek, a 15-year-old with a stab wound and two phones far from home, a 14-year-old asking for emergency contraception whose boyfriend is "nearly 20", and a health visitor who disagrees with a "no further action" decision and uses the escalation procedure.

Modules end with key points, and reflection points ask practical questions, such as whether your service has a protocol for bruising in non-mobile babies and how it responds when a child is repeatedly not brought to appointments. Your reflective account answers three prompts: what you learned about recognising harm, how you will keep the child's voice at the centre even when your patient is an adult, and your action plan for the next three months.

The assessment has 15 scenario-based questions. The pass mark is 12 (80%); if you score below that, you revisit the linked sections and try again. Passing supports your learning record but does not by itself demonstrate competence at a particular safeguarding level or meet a mandatory training requirement. You receive a certificate of completion from Healthcare Practise UK.

For CPD, record the time you actually spend. Nurses, midwives and nursing associates should note that self-directed online learning normally counts towards the NMC's individual CPD hours rather than its 20 participatory hours, unless you complete it with colleagues and discuss it together. Doctors reflect on CPD at appraisal; the GMC does not set fixed hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC, GCC and Social Work England each set their own CPD rules, so check the ones that apply to you, and keep your certificate and reflection together.

Registrants use the course as reflective CPD and as a refresher between employer updates, particularly when they work mainly with adults and rarely think about children in the household. It can support awareness for staff at different intercollegiate levels, but it does not replace the safeguarding children training your employer requires, so check what your role needs.

Services use it to give mixed teams, such as GP practices, pharmacies, dental practices and community teams, a shared understanding of local referral routes and escalation. Pairing it with a short team discussion of one worked example helps staff agree how they would act in your own setting. See courses for organisations for team accounts.

If a concern about your practice involved a missed safeguarding opportunity, the course can be one part of a targeted learning plan, alongside honest reflection and advice from your defence organisation or union. Courses support remediation; panels decide.

This course belongs to our safeguarding courses group. If you also work with adults, add Safeguarding Adults: Essentials for Health and Care Staff. Children living with domestic abuse are victims in their own right in England and Wales, so Domestic Abuse and Coercive Control Awareness is a natural next step, and Modern Slavery, FGM and Exploitation Awareness covers the FGM mandatory reporting duty and county lines in depth. For consent and confidentiality with young people in more detail, see Consent and Confidentiality with Children and Young People. The which course do I need tool can suggest a combination.