2025 archived consultation: guidance on maintaining appropriate sexual boundaries and care of patients in vulnerable circumstances

This consultation was previously hosted on our consultation hub. We have moved it here as part of archiving.

We asked 

We developed two new pieces of guidance, 'Maintaining appropriate sexual boundaries' and 'Care of patients in vulnerable circumstances', to help registrants meet the new standards that were introduced in January 2025. We held a consultation to obtain feedback from stakeholders on whether the guidance was easy to read and understand and effectively supports registrants to interpret the updated standards.  

You said 

Many of the responses welcomed the introduction of one, or both, pieces of guidance, as a helpful supplement to support registrants to comply with the new standards. Many also provided detailed feedback, suggesting drafting changes or highlighting points where they felt we needed to provide greater clarity. 

We did 

We reflected on all the feedback we received and amended the guidance as a result. The feedback allowed us to improve the clarity of the guidance and enhance the emphasis in particular areas. 

Key changes include clarifying that adjustments to meet the needs of patients in vulnerable circumstances are not “reasonable adjustments” as required by law and emphasising that all sexual misconduct is serious. 

Guidance on Maintaining appropriate sexual boundaries and Care of patients in vulnerable circumstances is available on our website. 

Files

• Consultation response (English)
• Consultation response (Welsh)

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response. You can also view submitted responses in Welsh.