Roles and competencies – for paediatricians, named and designated doctors, and all healthcare staff
To protect children and young people from harm and help improve their wellbeing, all health staff must have the competencies to recognise child maltreatment and take effective action as appropriate to their role. This page introduces the safeguarding competencies for all health staff (known as the ICD) plus documents especially for paediatricians and for named and designated doctors.
All staff who come into contact with children and young people have a responsibility to safeguard and promote their welfare and should know what to do if they have concerns about safeguarding and child protection issues. All Trusts must have a named doctor and nurse for safeguarding, who will provide advice and expertise for fellow professionals and promote good practice within their organisation.
For all health care staff working with children and young people
Health care staff in every service recognise the necessity to protect people with increased vulnerabilities and those in need of safeguarding. There is a moral, professional and statutory duty of care. Being able to do this effectively is built upon a structure of personal knowledge, skills and competence, and access to health care staff with appropriate expertise and strategic leadership.
The 5th edition of the Intercollegiate document, Safeguarding children and young people & children and young people in care: Competencies for health care staff was published in autumn 2025 on a dedicated website. It outlines competencies for each of the five levels of health care staff who support children and young people and for senior managers and executives.
For paediatricians and paediatricians in training (Levels 3 and 3+)
All paediatricians must have the competencies to recognise child maltreatment, opportunities to improve childhood wellbeing and to take effective action as appropriate to their role. We published a guide for members that complements the full ICD (introduced above) and that correlates with RCPCH Progress+ curriculum.
Competencies can be met by having the appropriate knowledge and skills, and in this document we have linked the knowledge and skills required for each competency. The ICD has defined learning outcomes which we have not reiterated in this document. Although we recommend that our members meet these standards, it is up to individual employers, health commissioners and the inspectorate to deliver and monitor them.
For named and designated doctors (Levels 4 and 5)
Named and designated doctors for child protection (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and the lead paediatrician for child protection / paediatrician with a special interest in child protection (Scotland) have additional responsibilities for safeguarding children. We summarised the competency frameworks for these, presented them here in separate files, alongside the model job descriptions