CPD-AccreditedCertified byLive course via Zoom · All UK healthcare regulators CPD Certified & Accredited
Professional Boundaries Course Face-to-Face Live CPD course by Zoom for healthcare professionals facing a professional boundaries allegation with a patient or a colleague, a complaint or investigation — and for your CPD
Which of these is your situation?
- Professional boundaries course for an allegation or regulator investigation about a boundary with a patient or a colleague?
- A relationship with a patient or a colleague that has been reported?
- Messages or social media contact with a patient said to cross a line?
- A concern about consent or an examination without a chaperone?
- Dual relationships: treating a friend, a relative or someone you work with?
- Gifts, favours or money from a patient questioned?
- Advised to take a course by your defence organisation, union or solicitor before you respond?
- Looking for a live CPD course on professional boundaries, consent and chaperoning?
This course is written for every one of these — and for your CPD.
Help with a boundaries allegation starts here. A live day with a facilitator on professional boundaries with a patient or a colleague, consent and chaperones — and how to show the insight, reflection and remediation your regulator looks for.
Dr Shehzad IqbalFounder, course author and facilitatorMBBS, MRCS, MRCGP
Ludmila UpenieceBusiness development and supportPsychology, UEL London
In short: The Professional Boundaries Course, by Probity & Ethics, is a live, facilitated professional boundaries CPD course by video link on Zoom for UK healthcare professionals facing an allegation or regulator investigation about boundaries with a patient or a colleague (GMC, NMC, GDC, GPhC, HCPC or another regulator), a complaint or a fitness to practise concern, and for CPD. It covers what professional boundaries are, the regulators’ guidance, how boundaries become blurred, consent and chaperones, and finishes with an exercise to build a personalised action plan. 5 CPD hours, £499, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197), with a certificate on completion.
Who this course is for
Facing a boundaries allegation
A complaint, a referral or an employer investigation says a boundary with a patient or a colleague was crossed, by words, messages, contact or a relationship.
Under a fitness to practise investigation
A case is open with the GMC, NMC, GDC, GPhC, HCPC, GOC, GCC, GOsC or Social Work England about boundaries, and you need a dated record of remediation and a structure for your reflection.
A concern about consent or chaperones
An examination, a procedure or a conversation has been questioned, and the concern is about consent, privacy or whether a chaperone was offered.
Advised to complete a course before you respond
Your defence organisation, union or solicitor has suggested a boundaries course before your response goes in.
Building your CPD
You want a live, facilitated professional boundaries course in your CPD record, with discussion rather than a recording.
The concerns this course speaks to
Relationships with a patient or a colleague
A personal, financial or sexual relationship, or one that began as friendly and moved on. A boundaries breach with a patient or a colleague is judged against the trust and power in the relationship, not the intention behind it.
Messages and social media
Texts, personal numbers, friend requests and messages outside a professional channel. Much boundary drift starts here.
Dual relationships
Treating friends, relatives or colleagues, or a professional relationship that has become a personal one.
Consent and chaperones
Intimate examinations, explanations, consent and whether a chaperone was offered and recorded.
Gifts, favours and money
Accepting gifts, favours, loans or business opportunities from a patient, or giving them.
Self-disclosure and over-familiarity
Sharing personal information, touch, or language that a patient or a colleague found inappropriate.
What the course covers
A live course of 5 CPD hours by Zoom, with breaks, finishing with your own action plan. The certificate is issued on completion.
What professional boundaries are
What professional boundaries are, and why the trust and power in a professional relationship make them yours to keep.
The regulators’ guidance
Guidance from the UK healthcare regulators on professional boundaries with a patient or a colleague.
Why boundary violations happen
The factors that contribute to boundary violations.
When boundaries become blurred
Situations where boundaries can become blurred, and the risk that follows.
Consent and chaperones
Guidance on consent and chaperones, and how to record both.
Keeping boundaries
Why professional boundaries matter for healthcare professionals, and the measures and mechanisms that help maintain them.
When a breach happens
What to do when a breach of professional boundaries happens: insight, reflect, remediate.
Your personalised action plan
An exercise to formulate a personalised action plan you can put dates against.
Dates, price and booking
Course dates
Or take it with ten online courses: £500 for the online courses plus this course at a reduced £449 — £949 in total.
- Price £499 per person
- One-to-one £250 extra, booked alone or with the bundle
- Time 9.30am to about 2.30–3.00pm (UK time), with breaks
- CPD 5 hours, certificate issued on completion
Need a date sooner than these? Contact us and we will try to arrange an earlier one.
How this helps if a boundaries concern has been raised
Regulators treat a boundaries breach as a question of trust: whether you understand why the boundary existed, the effect of crossing it on a patient or a colleague and on public confidence, and what has changed so it will not happen again. The account has to deal with the relationship and the power in it, not only the facts.
A facilitated day gives you room to work through how the situation developed, where the line was and when it should have been recognised, with a facilitator and other people in the same position.
On completion you receive a dated CPD certificate of 5 CPD hours. With your written reflection, it is evidence for a fitness to practise response, an employer process, a remediation portfolio or your appraisal and revalidation records.
How the live course works
Start
You join by video link on Zoom. The course is live and interactive throughout, with a facilitator.
Breaks
A lunch break and two tea or coffee breaks across the day.
Interactive throughout
Discussion with the facilitator and other participants, work on your own situation, reflective discussion and an action plan.
Finish, about 2.30–3.00pm
5 CPD hours, with a CPD certificate issued on completion and emailed to you.
Who facilitates
Course facilitator and author, Probity & Ethics
Dr Iqbal has designed and delivered ethics, probity and professionalism remediation courses for UK healthcare professionals since 2020, working with registrants of all nine UK healthcare regulators, online and face to face. He combines clinical practice as a GP with formal postgraduate training in healthcare law and ethics.
MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics, University of Dundee
The Professional Boundaries Course is a Probity & Ethics live course, facilitated by Dr Shehzad Iqbal and CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197).
Frequently asked questions
Who is the Professional Boundaries Course for?
Any UK healthcare professional facing a complaint, an employer investigation or a fitness to practise investigation about a boundary with a patient or a colleague, consent or chaperoning, with the GMC, NMC, GDC, GPhC, HCPC, GOC, GCC, GOsC or Social Work England, and anyone who wants a live professional boundaries course for CPD.
Does the course cover boundaries with colleagues as well as patients?
Yes. It covers a boundaries breach with a patient or a colleague, including relationships at work, messages and social media, and dual relationships where a professional relationship and a personal one overlap.
Is this course really face to face?
It runs live by video link on Zoom. Face to face here means live and interactive, with a facilitator and other participants, rather than a self-paced recording. You see and speak to the people taking part; the room is a video call. If you would rather work privately, a one-to-one version is available for £250 on top of the course price.
How long is the day, and what is the format?
The course starts at 9.30am and finishes at about 2.30 to 3.00pm, with a lunch break and two tea or coffee breaks. It carries 5 CPD hours and is CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197).
What certificate do I get, and when?
A 5 CPD hour certificate, issued on completion and emailed to you after the course. It records your name, the course title, the CPD hours and the date. You can put it in a remediation portfolio, with a written response to your regulator, or in your appraisal and revalidation records, alongside your own reflection.
Do I have to be under investigation to attend?
No. The course is built for healthcare professionals facing a complaint, an investigation or a fitness to practise process, and it is equally used for CPD and for appraisal evidence. Taking it before anything has gone wrong is a perfectly ordinary reason to come.
Can I take it with online courses?
Yes. In the Bulk Buy bundle you choose ten online courses for £500 and add this live course at £449, £949 in total. The online courses are self-paced and each carries its own CPD certificate.
Courses that work alongside this one
Online and self-paced: boundaries with a patient or a colleague.
