Roles and responsibilities

It is recommended that:

• each independent contractor has a staff member who has taken the role of public protection lead
• all members of staff (clinical and non-clinical) undertake the appropriate level of public protection training for their role (see section 9 for guidance)
• there is a public protection reporting/referral system in place and staff are familiar with this
• all members of staff know how to access the NHS public protection health service: for local contact information see Appendix 1 and for more details visit NHS A&A Child Protection or NHS A&A Adult Support and Protection.

The concept of ‘professional curiosity’ should lie at the heart of the relationship between independent contractors and patients/families/carers. It does not require anyone to be interrogated, but it does involve critical evaluation of information and an open mind. For more information about professional curiosity see Appendix 2.