1. Purpose

Her Healthcare is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk, and to delivering healthcare services in a safe and clinically accountable manner.

Safeguarding is recognised as a statutory and professional responsibility of all healthcare providers. Within Her Healthcare, safeguarding is embedded into all aspects of clinical practice and care coordination.

As a GP-led healthcare network operating across multiple providers and settings, this framework establishes how safeguarding responsibilities are understood, implemented, and monitored across the service.

2. Legal and Regulatory Context

Her Healthcare operates in accordance with relevant UK legislation, statutory guidance, and professional standards, including:

• The Children Act 1989 and 2004
• The Care Act 2014
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)
• Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff
• GMC Good Medical Practice
• UK GDPR and Caldicott Principles

Safeguarding is a shared responsibility across all organisations and professionals involved in the care of children and adults with care and support needs.

As outlined in national guidance, effective safeguarding requires co-operation between healthcare providers, local authorities, and other relevant agencies, supported by clear communication and timely information sharing.

3. Scope

This safeguarding framework applies to:

• All clinical consultations delivered by Her Healthcare
• All clinicians working under or alongside Her Healthcare
• All patients receiving care through the service

Her Healthcare provides care for:

• Adults
• Children aged 5 years and above
• Young people aged under 18 (with parental or guardian involvement)

Her Healthcare does not provide services for infants.

All patients under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian during consultations, except where alternative arrangements are clinically and legally appropriate.

4. Service Model and Inter-Agency Working

Her Healthcare operates as a coordinated GP-led network, delivering care through:

• Remote consultations
• Third-party clinical environments
• Independent GP practices
• Referrals to external providers (including specialists, therapists, and diagnostic services)

In line with NHS safeguarding principles:

Safeguarding is most effective where there is clear communication, defined responsibilities, and effective collaboration between agencies.

Within this model:

• Her Healthcare is responsible for safeguarding actions arising from its own clinical consultations
• Independent providers are responsible for safeguarding within their own services
• Information may be shared between providers where necessary to support patient safety

This reflects the principle that no single organisation can safeguard in isolation.

5. Safeguarding Responsibilities

All clinicians working within Her Healthcare are expected to:

• Be aware of safeguarding principles and relevant legislation
• Recognise signs of abuse, neglect, or risk
• Respond appropriately to disclosures or concerns
• Maintain accurate and contemporaneous records
• Share information where necessary to protect individuals
• Escalate concerns in accordance with statutory guidance

Safeguarding responsibilities apply to all clinical interactions, including remote consultations.

Until a named Safeguarding Lead is formally appointed, safeguarding oversight is maintained through shared clinical responsibility within the service.

6. Identification of Safeguarding Concerns

Safeguarding concerns may arise in a number of ways, including:

• Direct disclosure by a patient
• Clinical findings or observations
• Behavioural indicators
• Patterns in medical history
• Information provided by third parties

Clinicians are expected to apply professional judgement in identifying concerns and to consider the wider context of the patient’s circumstances.

As reflected in national guidance, certainty is not required in order to raise a safeguarding concern.

7. Scope of Safeguarding

Safeguarding within Her Healthcare includes any situation in which an individual may be at risk of harm, whether through abuse, neglect, exploitation, or vulnerability.

Children and Young People

Children may be at risk of harm through:

• Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
• Neglect, including failure to meet basic needs
• Exploitation, including online or peer-related harm
• Exposure to unsafe or unstable home environments

Clinicians must consider both the child’s presentation and the wider family context, including parental health and social circumstances where relevant.

Adults at Risk

An adult may be at risk where they have care and support needs and are unable to protect themselves from harm.

Risks may include:

• Domestic abuse or coercive control
• Financial or material abuse
• Neglect or self-neglect
• Psychological or emotional harm
• Exploitation

Assessment of risk must take into account capacity, consent, and the individual’s circumstances.

Women-Specific Safeguarding Context

Given the nature of the service, Her Healthcare recognises safeguarding issues that may disproportionately affect women, including:

• Domestic abuse and controlling relationships
• Reproductive coercion
• Postnatal vulnerability
• Mental health-related risk
• Sexual violence or exploitation

These concerns may be complex and require a sensitive, patient-centred approach.

8. Safeguarding Process and Information Sharing

Where a safeguarding concern is identified, clinicians will:

1. Assess the level of risk and take immediate action where necessary
2. Record relevant information clearly and accurately
3. Consider whether information needs to be shared with other agencies
4. Refer to appropriate safeguarding services where indicated
5. Ensure that actions taken are proportionate and justified

In accordance with statutory guidance:

Information sharing is a key component of safeguarding and may take place without consent where there is a risk of harm.

All information sharing must be:

• Necessary
• Proportionate
• Relevant
• Adequately documented

Patients should be informed of information sharing decisions where appropriate, unless doing so would increase risk.

9. Safeguarding in a Network Model

As a multi-provider service, safeguarding within Her Healthcare requires coordination across different organisations.

When patients are referred to external providers:

• Those providers assume responsibility for safeguarding within their care
• Her Healthcare may share relevant information where appropriate
• Safeguarding concerns may be escalated independently by either party

For patients receiving ongoing care (e.g. membership patients), Her Healthcare may maintain oversight and support coordination across providers, while respecting the independence of each organisation.

10. Clinical Governance

Clinical governance ensures that services are delivered safely, effectively, and in accordance with professional standards.

Within Her Healthcare, this includes:

• Delivery of care by appropriately qualified and regulated clinicians
• Adherence to evidence-based practice
• Safe prescribing and appropriate investigation requests
• Structured documentation and record-keeping
• Monitoring of patient outcomes and feedback
• Identification and review of incidents

This framework supports safe care delivery across a distributed network model.

11. Training and Competence

All clinicians are expected to maintain appropriate safeguarding training in line with national guidance, including:

• Safeguarding children (Level 2–3 as appropriate)
• Safeguarding adults at risk

Clinicians are responsible for ensuring their training is current and appropriate to their role.

12. Record Keeping and Reporting

Accurate record keeping is a fundamental requirement of safeguarding practice.

Records must:

• Be clear, factual, and contemporaneous
• Distinguish between fact, opinion, and third-party information
• Include rationale for decisions made

Where information is requested by safeguarding authorities (e.g. case conferences or safeguarding enquiries), clinicians are expected to provide relevant information in a timely and appropriate format.

This reflects the statutory duty to support safeguarding processes through effective information sharing.

13. Care Settings

Safeguarding applies across all care settings used by Her Healthcare, including:

• Remote consultations
• Third-party clinical environments
• Independent GP practices

Clinicians must ensure that the setting is appropriate for the consultation and that patient safety, privacy, and dignity are maintained.

14. Patient Safety and Scope of Services

Her Healthcare provides:

• GP consultations
• Non-invasive clinical examinations

We do not provide procedural or invasive treatments.

All care is delivered within appropriate clinical scope and in accordance with professional standards.

15. Raising Concerns

Patients who have concerns about their safety or wellbeing are encouraged to raise these with their clinician or contact Her Healthcare directly.

Where there is an immediate risk, patients should contact emergency services.

All concerns will be handled in accordance with safeguarding principles and clinical governance processes.

16. Review and Continuous Improvement

Her Healthcare regularly reviews its safeguarding and clinical governance framework to ensure ongoing compliance with:

• National guidance
• Professional standards
• Service developments

This includes learning from incidents, feedback, and evolving best practice.