Trainees need Level 3 training in both child and adult safeguarding.
At the start of the training programme in the trainee’s first post in ST1 all trainees need to receive training on both child and adult safeguarding and in particular have the knowledge of the appropriate action to take if there are any concerns. This can be done through local training or online resources and documented by the trainee in their ePortfolio.
This learning then needs to be applied throughout training. Information on both child and adult safeguarding needs to be documented within the trainee’s ePortfolio within each training year and made available to the ARCP panels.
It is recommended that demonstration of on-going learning come from participatory and non-participatory training activities.
Participatory
- Attending face to face training
- Group case discussion
- Reflection on the learning from a case the professional has been involved in and how this applied to their practice
- Webinars
- Attendance at safeguarding practice meetings
- Demonstrating how learning gained from reading the RCGP Child Safeguarding and Adult Safeguarding toolkits has been applied to clinical practice
Non-participatory
- E-Learning
- Reading the RCGP Child Safeguarding and Adult Safeguarding toolkits
- Relevant safeguarding guidelines of journal articles
Both participatory and non-participatory learning which supports safeguarding needs to be linked in the ePortfolio to the clinical experience group,‘People with health disadvantages and vulnerabilities’.
Minimum requirements
All trainees require in date evidence of level 3 safeguarding for both adult and child safeguarding from the start or early part of their training in ST1 and thereafter throughout their training.
Going forwards all trainees then need a knowledge update annually and this needs to include a demonstration of their knowledge, key safeguarding information and the appropriate action to take if there are any concerns. In addition, all trainees require a minimum of one participatory piece of learning and reflection for both adult and child safeguarding in each training year*. Evidence of learning for both the knowledge component and reflective exercises need to be documented in the trainees learning log.
*It is recognised that if the trainee does not have any posts within a specific training year which include children then although it would be still recommended for these trainees to understand and document their learning about child safeguarding this would not be mandatory.
As with all areas of the curriculum the ES will be asked if the trainee is competent in safeguarding in their final review. However, if in any post the supervisor has concerns about the trainee they will need close supervision and support when dealing with cases that may have safeguarding implications.
The Intercollegiate Documents and RCGP supplementary guidance on safeguarding
Nationally recognised frameworks have been designed to guide all health professionals and their teams to identify the competencies they need in order to safeguard children and adults. These include:
The Intercollegiate Documents (ICDs)
RCGP supplementary guide
The ICDs and the RCGP supplementary guide refer to a minimum number of hours required for safeguarding training. GP trainees are not expected to reference ‘number of hours’ within their learning log. If a trainee demonstrates within each training year a range of participatory and non-participatory learning in both child and adult safeguarding as documented above, this will be considered equivalent.