You owe a ‘duty of care’ to your patients, your colleagues and anyone you come into contact with. Sometimes, you may need to report incidents or concerns to your employer, the HCPC, or another relevant body. This is your ‘duty to report’.
The duty to report refers to a legal, moral, or professional responsibility to disclose information about a specific issue to someone in a position of authority. Unlike the duty of care, the duty to report is not absolute; it may be overridden by other professional obligations—most notably, the duty of confidentiality, particularly in healthcare settings.
While raising concerns can be critical, professionals must balance the need to report against potential harms of over-reporting or reporting unnecessarily. This includes considering the impact on professional relationships and the trust between practitioners and patients.
Before acting on a duty to report, you must:
- Hold an honestly held belief that there is a genuine concern.
- Have some evidence or reasonable grounds to support your concern.
- Thoughtfully weigh the risks and benefits of reporting, including ethical and legal implications.
A duty of confidentiality does not prevent you from sharing relevant information with other health professionals who are directly involved in the patient’s care. You have a duty to share information when:
- Other professionals are or should be involved in the patient's care,
- A decision is outside your scope of practice, and input is required from another professional.
Frequently asked questions about your duty to report
Do I have to declare HCPC investigations, cautions and/or criminal convictions?
Yes. The HCPC places an obligation on registrants to make self-declarations of good character. You must declare criminal convictions and/or cautions to the HCPC either before you apply to join the HCPC register, or as soon as you receive the penalty if you are currently on the register.
You must also notify the HCPC if you are barred from working with any group of individuals under a relevant Disclosure and Barring scheme.
You must inform your employer, or any prospective employer, of any HCPC investigation with regard to your practice and its outcome. If you undertake work for private medical insurance companies, you must also inform them of any regulatory investigation against you.
If you acquire a conviction during your pre-registration physiotherapy programme, you should raise this with your Higher Education Institution (HEI) and discuss any implications that this may have for continuing your studies. You must declare your conviction when you apply to join the HCPC register.
What should I do if I believe my patient is suicidal but they ask me not to report this?
You must remember that a duty of confidentiality does not stop you from sharing information with health professionals ordinarily involved in the care of your patient. In this situation, your duty to report overrides the patient’s right to confidentiality. You should take professional steps to raise your concern as far as you are reasonably able, for example:
- You should try to get the patient to seek help themselves
- You may contact the patient’s GP or psychiatrist, even without the patient’s consent, and raise your concerns
- You must document your concerns clearly in your records
- You must note your concern with a senior colleague
- You must consider if you need to raise an adult or child safeguarding concern
What if I suspect my patient may allegedly be involved in criminal activity?
You have no legal or professional duty to report a patient to the police or other authorities if you believe them to be allegedly committing criminal activity. Your professional duty of confidentiality overrides any moral duty to report.
However, where a crime is serious or could result in serious harm to other people, you should consider the possible risk of harm to other people if you do not pass it on, compared with the possible consequence if you do. The HCPC’s guidance on confidentiality can be found here.
What should I do if I believe a colleague’s standard of a care or conduct allegedly falls below an acceptable standard?
Concerns regarding an individual’s fitness to practise should first be addressed through supervision and/or mentoring processes, which may feed into the appraisal and performance review cycle. Concerns may also be managed by the employer’s capability procedures.
You have a duty to report your concerns if you believe that the safety of a patient may be compromised by the competence or health of a colleague. Lack of competence relates to the related HCPC standards of proficiency that are required for that profession.
You have a duty to report your concerns if you become aware that a colleague may be having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a patient, or a patient tells you that s/he believes a health professional has behaved in an inappropriate sexual manner toward them.
What do I do if I have a safeguarding concern about one of my patients?
You have a professional duty to report your concerns if you have an honestly held belief that a person (adult or child), is suffering, or is at risk of harm. Harm may encompass many aspects, including physical, psychological, emotional, sexual and financial abuse and/or neglect. In Scotland, you have a legal duty to report safeguarding concerns.
You must raise your concern with your relevant adult or child safeguarding lead in your organisation. If you do not have an organisation lead, you must contact the Local Authority safeguarding contact. They will review all the information provided and decide if the matter needs to be formally reported and escalated. Safeguarding is a statutory obligation and your duty to protect patients and/or service users from all forms of abuse, harm and/or neglect overrides any duty of confidentiality.
You have a legal duty to report (to the police) if you either observe physical signs suggesting female genital mutilation (FGM) in girls under the age of 18, or if a girl discloses to you that she has had FGM.