Moving and Handling, Level 2

What it covers

What changes when the load is a person who moves, hurts and decides, and what the law and the practice's policy ask of us. The assessment made before any move, what belongs in a patient's handling plan, and the equipment a surgery can have or get hold of. The holds that are ruled out, the patient who cannot take their own weight, the patient on the floor, and how handlers get hurt and report it.

Who it is for

Everyone who moves, positions or supports a patient: healthcare assistants, practice nurses, phlebotomists, GPs and trainees, paramedics and pharmacists in practice, and anyone who helps a patient onto a couch.

By the end you will be able to

• Say what changes when the load is a person, and what the law asks.
• Make the assessment before a move, and write a patient's handling plan.
• Use the equipment a practice has, within its limits, and report what fails.
• Name the holds that are ruled out, and what replaces them.
• Handle a patient who has fallen, and one who cannot take their weight.
• Protect your own back, report handling injuries, and get the plan reviewed.

Modules

1. A person, not a load
2. The kit a surgery has
3. Moves a practice really makes
4. A patient on the floor
5. Handlers get hurt too

Level 2 includes the Level 1 learning outcomes. Practical patient-handling technique is taught and assessed face to face with your practice's trainer, and your practice's own risk assessments, equipment and policy apply over anything written here.

Content mapped to the learning outcomes of the Core Skills Training Framework (England) v1.1: Moving and Handling, Level 2. Law named: Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4.

Sources

• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 2 (a load includes any person and any animal)
• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4 (avoid, assess, reduce, inform, and the duty to review an assessment)
• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, Schedule 1 (the factors and questions behind the assessment)
• Moving and handling in health and social care: overview (HSE, updated 12 January 2026)
• Managing the risks of moving and handling (HSE): generic and individual assessments, what an individual assessment records, bariatric handling, falls and the controlled slide
• Moving and handling equipment (HSE): handling belts, slide sheets, transfer boards, lifting cushions, hoists, slings and the number of carers
• Getting to grips with hoisting people, Health Services Information Sheet 3 (HSE)
• How LOLER applies to health and social care, Health Services Information Sheet 4 (HSE)
• Sensible risk assessment in care settings (HSE)
• Simple manual handling risk filters (HSE): the assumptions the guideline figures rest on
• L23 Manual handling, guidance on the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, fourth edition 2016 (HSE)
• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, regulation 7 (marking, including equipment designed for lifting persons)
• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, regulation 8 (every lifting operation planned by a competent person, supervised and carried out safely)
• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, regulation 9 (thorough examination at least every 6 months for equipment lifting persons and for lifting accessories)
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 13 (capabilities, and training on recruitment and on new equipment or a new system of work)
• Protecting pregnant workers and new mothers: risk assessment (HSE)
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, regulation 5 (non-fatal injuries to people not at work)
• Moving and handling advice guide (Royal College of Nursing, updated 25 January 2026): the balanced approach, and no routine lifting of most or all of a patient's weight
• Manual handling policy appendix 2: controversial techniques (NHS Fife), the named holds classified as unsafe
• Safer Moving and Handling (Manual Handling) Policy (Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust): unsafe techniques identified by the National Back Exchange, RCN, BackCare and the CSP, and approved manoeuvres taken from The Guide to the Handling of People
• Manual handling of the falling or fallen person procedure (Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust)
• Head injury: assessment and early management, NICE guideline NG232, recommendations 1.2.4 and 1.5.13
• Falls: prevention and management, NICE guideline NG249, recommendation 1.1.3
• Going further for winter: community-based falls response (NHS England, 18 October 2022), the harm of a lie of over one hour and the equipment falls services carry
• Regulation 15: premises and equipment (Care Quality Commission), including moving and handling equipment being available when it is needed
• GP mythbuster 67: reasonable adjustments for disabled people (Care Quality Commission)
• Core Skills Training Framework (England) Statutory/Mandatory Subject Guide v1.1, June 2021 (Skills for Health), Moving and Handling: Level 2 outcomes and refresher frequency (archived copy)

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GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.