General

This Safeguarding course expired on 5 January 2022. If you have completed this course, you can print your certificate here. 
This course has been replaced with our new Safeguarding Children for Optometrists Level 2 course, updated in January 2022.

CET Ref: C-73728

CET Points:

CET Type: Non-interactive

Closing Date: 9am 16 December 2021


DOCET has updated its safeguarding children’s course for 2020. The course is accredited at Level 2 and includes case studies relevant to optometric practice. This online resource informs optometrists of the issues surrounding abuse in children and how to recognise and manage child patients presenting with signs of abuse. It outlines the regulatory and ethical issues and explains how to report concerns about children seen in their consulting room. The course has been updated to reflect change in legislation and guidance and includes further information on radicalisation, modern slavery and the risks of social media for children and young people. 

Each level 2 safeguarding e-learning module will take up to two hours to complete, depending on your individual learning speed, but you don’t have to complete a module all at once – you can do it section-by-section, taking the learning at your own pace.

Please note the Optical Confederation’s guidance recommends all practitioners undertake Safeguarding training at level 2 and many organisations such as the NHS have this as a requirement. 

Therefore, this training is longer than other DOCET programmes to achieve this national standard, but under GOC guidelines can only be awarded one CET point.

Once you have completed and passed the non-interactive CET exercise, you can print your certificate.

    Learning objectives

    • 1.2.2 To recognise a disclosure of abuse, and be able to encourage and respond in a manner appropriate to the child and situation.

    • 2.4.1 To recognise and take into consideration the difficulty and uncomfortable nature for any child or young person making a disclosure and to understand the importance of not being judgemental and take any claims seriously.

    • 2.8.1 To understand what must be recorded in any case of a disclosure from a child or young person and where there are any suspicions of child abuse.


    • 2.10.1 To understand the need for co-operation between agencies that provide support to children and young people and appreciate the need to share information between local children's services and agencies when abuse is suspected.

    • 2.11.1 To be aware of the legal requirements of optometrists to safeguard and protect children and young people from abuse and the policies that should be in place in a practice.

      Certificate