Health professionals are often best placed to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. Case reviews highlight that despite facing system pressures, many are creative and persistent in engaging with families and carrying out care.
This briefing highlights learning from a sample of case reviews between 2020 and 2024 where learning for health professionals was included.
The health sector includes a wide range of professionals, agencies and settings. Case reviews studied for this briefing included issues and learning relating to different roles and settings within the sector. Professionals should interpret the learning in the briefing in line with their role and their organisation’s safeguarding policies and procedures.
Case reviews highlighted that it was sometimes challenging for professionals to identify when a child’s health concern may have indicated a potential safeguarding concern.
The learning from these reviews highlights that health professionals should:
- be able to consider potential safeguarding concerns when addressing children’s medical concerns
- follow organisational safeguarding procedures to make sure that concerns are acted on and children in their care are protected
- work effectively with other health and non-health professionals to seek out and share important information about a child’s condition and care needs.
