Children’s Social Care has asked for you to have a Child Protection Medical Examination. This will be with a children’s safeguarding doctor (paediatrician). This page will help you to understand what is going to happen at the time, and what might happen after the examination.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding allows children and young people to live free from abuse, harm, and neglect.
When we suspect a child or young person has come to harm, professionals have a duty to act in order to offer protection and prevent further harm from happening.
People should never hurt children and young people. Unfortunately, some people do hurt children by hitting them, shouting at them, touching private parts of their body (sexually abusing them) or not caring for them. If someone hurts you or if you see a person hurting someone else, you should tell a grown up that you trust. They will listen to you and help you.
When Children’s Social Care receives information that makes them suspect a child or young person may not be safe or well-cared for, they look into this by visiting you and your family. They may come with a police officer. They will then have a meeting to decide whether you need to be seen by a children’s safeguarding doctor.
Your rights as a child or young person
A right is something a person has which people think should not be taken away. It is a rule about what a person is allowed to do or have. A right is different from a privilege, which is something that must be earned.
Every child and young person have rights, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status.
There are some important rights which affect you day-to-day.
When it comes to seeing a doctor, or a professional who is working to keep you safe, we will work as a team to:
- keep your best interests as a priority when making decisions about you
- listen to you, and respect your views, feelings and wishes
- protect you from violence, abuse and neglect
- help you achieve the best health outcome possible
- help you to become independent, regardless of whether you do or do not have a disability
- make sure you have access to an education, and do not miss out on school or college
Capacity
Capacity means the ability to use and understand information to make a decision, and communicate any decision made.
- to have capacity, you must be able to:
- understand information about the decision
- remember that information
- use that information to make a decision
- communicate your decision by talking, using sign language or any other means
If you have capacity, you can make a decision about treatments or investigations. If you do not have capacity, we will consider what is in your best interests, along with the wishes of your parent(s) or carer(s).
Consent
If you are over the age of 16, you can consent to your own treatment.
Below the age of 16, we need to assess whether you have the right level of understanding to fully appreciate what is involved in your treatment.
If you are too young to understand or make this decision, someone with parental responsibility can consent for you. A person with parental responsibility may be:
- your mother
- your father
- your adoptive parent
- your legal guardian
- your local authority (represented by Children’s Social Care)
Who else could you meet?
Social worker
Social workers work within the community to help children and families, protecting them from harm and supporting them to find solutions to their problems. The social worker will likely come with you to the Child Protection Medical Examination and stay with you whilst you see the doctor if you are happy for this to happen. The social worker may also come to see you before the Child Protection Medical Examination. This is so that they can introduce themselves and explain what is going to happen.
Police officer
Police officers play a vital role in keeping us safe. They will be involved to assist the social worker in gathering information about what has happened to you. They may see you before the Child Protection Medical Examination, along with the social worker.
Children’s safeguarding doctor
The doctor you will meet is specially trained to work with children and young people. They are here to listen to you, and to help you, by examining you and speaking to your family and social worker. The doctor may make suggestions to the social worker on how to keep you safe, and may also ask you to go to the hospital to have photographs taken. Sometimes, the doctor may ask for you to have a blood test or an X-ray taken too.
Clinical photographer
If you need to have photographs taken, then you will be required to go to the hospital. There, you will meet a clinical photographer, whose job is to capture different types of images, which may include taking photos, videos, or 3D images.
Hospital staff
If you need to go to the hospital, during your visit you may meet several different hospital staff, who are all there to help make sure things run smoothly for you. This may include a receptionist, healthcare assistant, nurse, doctor, or play therapist, for example. They will introduce themselves to you and help make you feel at ease whilst you are there.
Where it will take place, and who will be there?
Most of the time, you will meet the doctor in a building called Coniston, which is at the back of Solihull Hospital by the visitor’s car park. In some cases, you may be asked to come to a community clinic, or a different hospital such as Heartlands Hospital or Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Child Protection Medical Examination
Being in a new place and meeting new people can be tough.
During the examination, you can have a parent or carer with you. If this is not possible, then your social worker can stay in the room with you, with your permission. They may be sat behind a curtain to give you some privacy.
There will also be another person in the room called a chaperone. They will be there to help you during your time at Coniston and will observe the whole assessment.
The doctor or chaperone will measure your height and weight. The doctor will carry out a general examination, such as listening to your heart and chest. The doctor will also carry out a detailed head-to-toe examination.
If there are any injuries or marks seen, the doctor will carefully measure these and draw them in your medical notes. This detailed examination can take quite a long time, but it is important for the doctor to make an accurate record of any injuries/marks.
If you feel comfortable, you will be asked to undress the top half of your body, followed by the bottom half. This will not be an intimate examination. You should not be asked to remove your underwear unless there are concerns of injuries on your bottom.
Further tests (X-rays and blood tests)
Sometimes the doctor may need to arrange other tests, for instance blood tests or X-rays. This will always be discussed with you if these are needed.
If the doctor is worried you might have a broken bone or another injury, you may be sent to the emergency department for further treatment.
Your time to talk
We understand that talking to someone you don’t know very well can be hard, especially if it is about things which are difficult.
As part of the Child Protection Medical Examination, you should be offered the opportunity to talk to the doctor and chaperone on your own. This is so the doctor can understand what it is like for you at home and school/college/your place of education and ask you what you think about your situation. This gives you a chance to explain what you need and talk about things which are important to you.
If you say something during this talk which worries the doctor, then they will have to tell your social worker about it, so that they can work together to keep you safe.
What about my brother/sisters?
If you have brothers and sisters, they may also need to come and meet the children's safeguarding doctor and have the same checks as you. This will happen if we are worried they might have come to some harm.
Can I go home afterwards?
We are working together to keep you safe, in the best way possible. For most children and young people, the best place for them is to live at home. Social workers can help your parent(s) and/or carer(s)to keep you safe from harm in this case.
For some children and young people, it is not safe for them to go back home, because there is a worry that they could get seriously hurt. In this case, the social worker will work towards finding a safe place for you to go and live. This might be with a family member (such as a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, or an adult brother or sister), or with a new person who will look after you, called a foster carer.
If I can’t go home, what will happen?
Your social worker will arrange for you to go to a safe place. They will always try their best to keep you and your brothers and sisters in the same placement. The social worker will decide on whether you are allowed to have contact with your parent(s) and/or carer(s), and whether this needs to be supervised by another adult. These decisions should be shared with you.
Our commitment to confidentiality
We keep personal and clinical information about you to ensure you receive appropriate care and treatment. Everyone working in the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.
We will share information with other parts of the NHS to support your healthcare needs, and we will inform your general practitioner (GP) of your progress, unless you ask us not to. If we need to share information that identifies you with other organisations, we will ask for your consent. You can help us by pointing out any information in your records which is wrong or needs updating.
Additional sources of information
The NHS Choices website offers information about a wide range of health topics:
If you have any questions you want to ask about your child’s condition or treatment or if there is anything you do not understand and you wish to know more about, please write them down and your doctor will be more than happy to try and answer them for you. You can also speak to your GP and your child’s health visitor or school nurse if you think of something after you have left our appointment.
Your views matter
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Last reviewed: 31 July 2024
