Clear sexual boundaries - CHRE guidance

In January 2008, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) issued three sets of guidance on the maintenance of clear sexual boundaries between healthcare professionals and patients. Although, the guidance is directed at the regulators and not at employers, the documents are a helpful framework for employers when reviewing processes around these issues.

• The guidance
• Reviewing your own arrangements

The guidance

• clear sexual boundaries between healthcare professionals and patients: responsibilities of healthcare professionals. This guidance asks regulators of healthcare professionals, such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Healthcare Professionals Council, to use this document to provide guidance to registrants
• learning about sexual boundaries between healthcare professionals and patients: a report on education and training. This report aims to encourage those involved in the training, development and regulation of healthcare professionals to ensure that students and healthcare professionals receive effective training in clear sexual boundaries
• clear sexual boundaries between healthcare professionals and patients: guidance to fitness to practise panels. Advice and guidance for fitness to practise panels established by the regulators.

You can access all three guidance documents from the CHRE website.

Although, the guidance is not specifically directed at employers, the guidance does outline the responsibilities of healthcare professionals, from a CHRE view, on the issue of sexualised activity with a former patient or carer and employers may wish to take this into account in local investigations.

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Reviewing your own arrangements

Following the publication of this guidance, the CHRE recommend that employers may want to review their own arrangements for dealing with these difficult issues. In particular, to consider the following:

• are you confident your staff are clear about their responsibilities to maintain clear sexual boundaries at all times with patients, and others close to patients who are involved in their care?
• are you confident that appropriate support would be available to patients, in these situations?
• are you confident that staff would know how to report any concerns about the action of colleagues?
• are you confident that your organisation has the right systems in place and would know how to act in response to the report of a sexual boundary breach?
• Is the appropriate infrastructure in place in your organisation to allow proper boundaries to be maintained? For example adequate privacy for patients when they need to undress.

Throughout 2008, the CHRE will be leading a work programme on how employers investigate performance and conduct concerns about healthcare professionals and further guidance will be published from this. If you need further information on any of these guidance documents, please contact the CHRE at info@chre.org.uk or 0207 389 8030.