About this course
Safeguarding children means early protection, safer care, and stronger community trust.
[podcast mini /media/goc-standard-11-child-safeguarding-intro.mp3]
A child sits in your chair for what seems like a routine appointment. But as you look a little closer, you notice something troubling—a pattern of missed care, injuries that don’t add up, or a parent answering every question on their behalf. In that moment, your role as a clinician expands. You’re not just checking vision—you may be the only professional with the chance to notice that something is wrong.
Safeguarding is about acting with vigilance and compassion. It’s not about proving harm, but about putting a child’s safety first: recognising concerns, recording carefully, sharing only what’s necessary, and escalating promptly. Every step matters, because hesitation can leave a child in danger, while timely action can transform their future.
This course will guide you through practical tools, scenarios and lawful processes so you can respond with clarity and confidence. By strengthening your safeguarding skills, you strengthen the safety and trust children deserve in every clinical encounter.
Every child deserves to be safe when accessing optical care. This Level 2 course helps you identify signs of abuse or neglect, understand your legal and professional duties, and take appropriate action when concerns arise. With practical guidance, you will be prepared to meet GOC Standard 11 with confidence.
This course is relevant to the whole optical team, including
- Registered optical professionals wanting reliable CPD mapped to GOC Standards
- Locums, jobseekers, and overseas practitioners needing to demonstrate current knowledge
- Colleagues addressing professional challenges who require structured CPD for reflection and remediation
- Managers and teams who want consistent, defensible training
CPD Time: 60 minutes (1 CE Credit / 1 Non-interactive CPD Point)
Assessment: 10 MCQs. Pass mark 80%. more…
On passing the assessment you will immediately receive a CPD Certificate.
Customer feedback on this course
- Clear, practical and immediately applicable to daily practice.
- Good coverage of red flags and how to record verbatim statements.
- The domiciliary guidance and checklists were very helpful.
- Practical templates made it simple to improve our practice SOPs.
- Concise, authoritative and confidence‑building for all staff.
Aim:
The aim of this Level 2 course is to ensure optical teams meet GOC Standard 11 by recognising risk to children, responding appropriately to disclosures and concerns, and escalating via lawful multi-agency routes.
Course objectives:
- Provide clear teaching on the legal, statutory, and professional framework for safeguarding children (e.g., Children Acts, Working Together guidance) and its implications for optical practice.
- Deliver practical tools and scenarios to help learners recognise abuse and neglect, handle disclosures sensitively, record contemporaneously, and escalate concerns through local pathways.
Anticipated learning outcomes:
On course completion you will be able to:
- Recognise optical red flags and vulnerable child groups (Standard 11) and differentiate concerns that require prompt safeguarding action.
- Respond to disclosures using non-leading prompts and make contemporaneous verbatim records (Standard 11) that support child-centred decision making.
- Share information lawfully and complete an appropriate referral to children’s services (Standard 11), documenting actions and outcomes to ensure continuity and accountability.
GOC Framework Mapping:
Standard 11: Protect and safeguard: Safeguarding Children
Domain: Professionalism
Learning content:
Introduction: Why Safeguarding Matters | Legal and Regulatory Framework | The Safeguarding Lead | Vulnerable Child Groups | Recognising Abuse and Neglect | Scenario: Recognising Abuse | Warning Signs of Abuse | Scenario: Handling Disclosures | Responding to Concerns | Information Sharing and Confidentiality | Scenario: Escalation and Information Sharing | Preparing the Practice | Reflection and Continuous Improvement | MCQ | Reading List
View full course description
GOC Standard 11: Safeguarding Children in Optical Practice
Course Description
Introduction: Why Safeguarding Children Matters
Explain the statutory and professional duty to safeguard. Describe why safeguarding matters across reception, testing, dispensing and domiciliary care. Emphasise child‑centred decision making and working with uncertainty.
Legal and Regulatory Framework
Cover the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, Working Together guidance, mandatory FGM reporting, Prevent duty, modern slavery duties and data protection allowances for safeguarding.
The Safeguarding Lead
Define the lead’s role and core responsibilities. Set internal escalation triggers, secure information governance and a safeguarding log. Address domiciliary visit considerations.
Vulnerable Child Groups
Identify children with disabilities, looked‑after children, young carers and marginalised groups. Recognise access barriers and contextual vulnerability such as exploitation risks.
Recognising Abuse and Neglect
Describe categories of abuse and optical red flags (periorbital bruising, broken spectacles, missed treatment). Explain triangulating accounts, differential diagnoses and documentation best practice.
Scenario: Recognising Abuse
Practice with a bruising scenario and a neglect case involving missed amblyopia care and broken glasses. Cover recording, immediate risk assessment and escalation steps.
Warning Signs of Abuse
List physical indicators, emotional and behavioural signs, sexual exploitation indicators and neglect markers with pattern recognition guidance.
Scenario: Handling Disclosures
Demonstrate safe responses to a child disclosure. Emphasise avoiding investigative questioning, managing parent‑child dynamics, speaking to the child alone and immediate recording and referral actions.
Responding to Concerns
Set immediate priorities: safety and calm communication. Describe contemporaneous factual recording and when to escalate to the safeguarding lead or children’s services. Discuss professional judgement and proportionality.
Information Sharing and Confidentiality
Explain lawful, necessary and proportionate sharing under UK GDPR. Show what factual information to include in referrals, apply Caldicott principles and record multi‑agency outcomes.
Scenario: Escalation and Information Sharing
Cover responding to school enquiries, verifying identity and preparing referrals to social services. Explain what to include in a neglect referral: chronology, barriers and the child’s voice, plus follow‑up recording.
Preparing the Practice
Advise on policies, named leads and deputies, training, safer recruitment, domiciliary risk assessment, check‑in systems and practical flowcharts and prompts.
Reflection and Continuous Improvement
Encourage case review, audits, team debriefs and supervision. Address staff wellbeing after distressing cases and embedding small system changes for reliability.
Reading List
Statutory guidance and legislation, GOC and professional guidance, NICE references and resources on information sharing and specific duties (FGM, Prevent, Modern Slavery).
Practice Reflection
Use complaints and incidents as learning opportunities. Hold regular reviews in team meetings and update SOPs and record templates based on outcomes.
Course Completion
Complete the feedback survey, pass the multiple‑choice exam and download your CPD certificate. Reflect on how you will apply learning in your practice.
You can copy and adapt this example PDP entry for your own needs and circumstances.
| PDP Learning or Maintenance need |
| Practical competence in recognising and responding to safeguarding concerns about children in optical settings |
| How does this relate to my field of practice? |
| Direct patient contact with children occurs across optical teams; staff must act in line with GOC Standard 11 and local safeguarding arrangements. |
| Which development outcome(s) does it link to? |
| Standard 11: Safeguarding children. Level 2 |
| What benefit will this have to my work? |
| Greater confidence to identify red flags, make timely referrals, and maintain lawful, child‑centred records. |
| How will I meet this learning or maintenance need? |
| Complete the course, use local escalation pathways, and update practice SOPs and record templates. |
| When will I complete the activity? |