Storing safeguarding records

We wanted to highlight the importance of storing safeguarding information in line with GMC guidance (Keeping records – professional standards – GMC (gmc-uk.org)), which states:  

‘You should store information or records from other organisations, such as minutes from child protection conferences, with the child’s or young person’s medical record, or make sure that this information will be available to clinicians who may take over the care of the child or young person.’

This is reinforced in the NHSE safeguarding guidance NHS England » Safeguarding in the section titled ‘Processing and storing safeguarding information on the GP IT system’:

‘Safeguarding information in a patient’s notes needs to be immediately obvious to all health practitioners who have access to the record for the purposes of direct care (this includes agency staff and locum staff).’

The NHSE guidance also contains sections regarding mitigating safeguarding risks in online access and the importance of updating your safeguarding policy to include the implications on safeguarding of having digital records.

Further information can be found here: n3i-information-governance-factsheet-46-safeguarding-reports-in-medical-records.pdf