Recommendation 22: National chaperone policy for healthcare (England)
From Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published 25 April 2018.
Recommendation
The Chair and Panel recommend that the Department of Health and Social Care develops a national policy for the training and use of chaperones in the treatment of children in healthcare services. The Chair and Panel recommend that the Care Quality Commission considers compliance with national chaperone policies (once implemented) in its assessments of services.
In brief (written by this site)
HM Government stated in July 2019 that NHS England had developed and published chaperone guidance notes to establish clear principles across healthcare settings, and that the Department of Health and Social Care would continue to require the Care Quality Commission to assess providers' chaperone policies during inspections (HM Government, Jul 2019). In October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recorded that the guidance had been produced and that the department would maintain these inspection requirements (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
30. DHSC fully supports the use of chaperones for children, young people and adults at risk, when using healthcare services. To support organisations, NHS England has developed a chaperone guidance note which sets out clear principles of chaperoning and includes a number of examples of good practice chaperone policies which can be applied across a range of healthcare settings
31. All acute, community and primary care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are required to have active chaperone policies and protocols, which are regularly reviewed through scrutiny at provider organisation Boards or, in the case of primary care, via GP contract reviews. CQC assesses providers’ policies and protocols on their inspection visits.
32. These locally- owned protocols are based on policies developed by the Royal Colleges and other national clinical networks to ensure they represent best practice and are rightly tailored to meet local need but retaining common principles. Whilst DHSC fully supports this approach, its role is not to set these policies and protocols.
33. DHSC will seek assurance from NHS England and CQC that the relevant organisations have chaperone protocols in place to safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults in their care.
Delivery
UK Government says in progress (22 July 2019)
All acute, community and primary care providers registered with the CQC are required to have chaperone policies and protocols, which are regularly reviewed through scrutiny at provider organisation Boards or, in the case of primary care, via GP contract reviews. NHS England has developed chaperone guidance notes which set out clear principles of chaperoning and include examples of good practice from different NHS organisations. The notes have been developed by safeguarding experts and commissioners across a range of healthcare settings and subjected to robust legal scrutiny and internal governance through NHS England’s National Safeguarding Steering Group. The guidance notes were signed off by the NHS England and NHS Improvement Executive team in May 2019. They are now on the website and have been disseminated through the extensive communication channels of NHS England and NHS Improvement which reaches all sectors, organisations, and clinicians across the NHS. This will ensure that they are mainstreamed into existing safeguarding assurance policy, processes and procedures. DHSC will continue to require the CQC to assess providers’ policies and protocols on their inspection visits.
Site note: The UK Government's progress update on the Interim Report, 22 July 2019. For each recommendation it restates the "Government commitment - December 2018" and gives an "Update"; it states no new position on the recommendation. The position is in the response of 20 December 2018.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (6 October 2022)
On 22 July 2019, the UK Government stated that NHS England had developed chaperone guidance notes which set out clear principles of chaperoning and examples of good practice. The UK Government also stated that the Department for Health and Social Care will continue to require the Care Quality Commission to assess providers’ policies and protocols on their inspection visits.
From: Recommendations - Interim Report
Site note: These are the Inquiry's own words, from its recommendations page for the Interim Report, captured by the Internet Archive on 6 October 2022. They are the Inquiry's account of what the body told it, not the body's own words.
Site note: The government's own words are recorded on this recommendation: its response of 20 December 2018 and its progress update of 22 July 2019.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- UK Government
Response, delivery statement - Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Finding