Currently there is no mandatory requirement to complete Level 3 training, but all GPs need to be able to demonstrate a level of knowledge and competency, that is equivalent to Level 3, as part of their professional responsibility for fitness to practice. Your Responsible Officer expects that all doctors will be working towards level 3 during the 2014/15 appraisal year. A statement from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) supports this approach to safeguarding training, and is also backed up by statement from the BMA issued in February 2013: BMA Guidance - Level 3 Safeguarding Training for GPs - Feb 2013.pdf
GPs across the SouthWestPeninsula have accessed a variety of safeguarding training resources over the years. Some have had face-to-face training while others have become more familiar with using on-line resources. It has become clear that a ‘one size fits all’ course is not always the best use of a GP’s time, as our days get busier and our resources more stretched.
The Level 3 Experiential Learning Template has been accepted by the Responsible Officer of the Area Team as a useful tool to demonstrate ongoing competencies in the safeguarding of children. It enables a GP to log any relevant safeguarding training over the year, and to demonstrate participation in multiagency working which is the crux of any Level 3 training.
The template offers various options for ongoing training, allowing the GP to access those most suited to their learning style and identified learning needs. There are options to attend suitable courses, to complete online learning modules, and to engage in professional conversations with multiagency colleagues.
An example of the latter could be a regular practice meeting to discuss vulnerable families to which any clinical staff, school nurses, health visitors and midwives are invited. Alternatively, involvement in a child protection case would inevitably necessitate multiagency working. These multiagency experiences can be used for reflection, using the proforma, for discussion at appraisal and to help identify further learning needs for the GP’s Professional Development Plan.
The online learning suggested at the option of a Level 1 and Level 2 course which would be suitable for other members of your practice staff, although we strongly recommend that this is facilitated learning especially for new members of staff. This learning will also need to be supported by information about who they need to contact within the practice for support and guidance, as well as the details of local referral procedures and contact numbers. The Level 3 course is designed to help the GP identify further areas of learning needed, again to help populate a PDP.
All members of staff should know the Lead GP for Safeguarding (CQC inspectors will expect this). The Lead GP for safeguarding within a practice needs to demonstrate leadership skills, ie to guide and inform their GP colleagues & staff, to encourage multiagency working within the primary health care team, and to keep them up to date with any changes in policy or learning eg: Serious Case Reviews. They should be the first point of contact within the practice for issues relating to safeguarding.
Dr Kate Gurney
LeadGP for Safeguarding Children forthe Area Team (South West), NHS England; GP Partner, Coleridge Medical Centre, Ottery St Mary; Devon LMC Board and Devon Safeguarding Children Board member