Do you need a chaperone?

This publication is welcome, especially following Healthwatch England's 2024 cervical screening project, which revealed that one quarter of women had not been told in advance they could request a chaperone be present. As a result of this finding and feedback from local Healthwatch case studies, the establishment of a national policy on chaperones for intimate examinations was recommended,

Improving chaperone practice in the NHS: key principles and guidance, states that while providers will retain flexibility to set local chaperoning policies, these should be ‘underpinned by a shared set of principles to ensure a level of commonality in our offer to patients and service users’.

This includes:

·       Ensuring policies are advertised to patients, the public and service users, and also ensuring they are available online and in easy read formats.

·       Making the offer of a chaperone clear to the patient before any consultation, ideally at the time of booking the appointment and then again at the time of the examination.

·       Considering the patient’s preferences in relation to choice of chaperone, which may include sex, religious beliefs or other personal circumstances.

·       Staff should also identify where patients may have additional needs, such as communication difficulties or learning disabilities, and make reasonable adjustments to ensure they understand the offer and feel supported.