What it covers

How a clinician hears children of every age and need, assesses need and risk, and notices harm nobody has named yet: injuries in babies who cannot move, neglect, fabricated or induced illness, sexual abuse, and what the adults around the child bring into the home. Exploitation and harm outside the home, online harm, children in care and care leavers, female genital mutilation (FGM), competence and parental responsibility. When a child dies, safer sleep and what reviews keep finding, and the GP's part from a strategy discussion to a conference report and court, each worked through a practice case.

Who it is for

GPs, GP registrars, practice nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and the other clinical roles the RCGP places at Level 3, and the practice safeguarding lead and deputy.

By the end you will be able to

Hear children of every age and need, and apply competence, consent and parental responsibility.
Assess need and risk with the national framework, thresholds and a chronology that analyses.
Recognise injury in non-mobile babies, neglect, sexual abuse and fabricated or induced illness.
Judge how parents' mental illness, substance use and domestic abuse affect children, including before birth.
Act on exploitation, online harm, harm outside the home and FGM, and support children in care.
Report to conferences and courts, record and code safely, and learn from child deaths and reviews.

Modules

Your Level 3 role and competence
Talking with children
Assessing need and risk
Injuries and physical abuse
The adults around the child
Neglect, and disability that masks it
Fabricated or induced illness
Adolescents and sexual harm
Exploitation and harm outside the home
Looked-after children and care leavers
Online harm
Child deaths and learning from reviews
Records, reports and court

This course is the e-learning part of Level 3. The RCGP also expects yearly learning and reflection in practice, such as case discussion, practice safeguarding meetings and multi-agency work, which is recorded separately.

Content mapped to the additional Level 3 learning outcomes of the Core Skills Training Framework (England) v1.1: Safeguarding Children, the Level 3 competences of the Intercollegiate Document (2025) and the RCGP safeguarding standards for general practice (2024). E-learning part only. Law named: Children Act 1989, sections 3, 46 and 47; Children Act 2004, section 16LA; Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, section 5B and Schedule 2.

Sources

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Safeguarding Children, Level 3

What it covers

Who it is for

By the end you will be able to

Modules

Sources