Why Professional Curiosity matters
A practical guide to Professional Curiosity for safeguarding partners, providers and system leaders. Learn the governance, evidence and delivery steps that improve outcomes and reduce risk. Effective safeguarding depends on professional curiosity, robust escalation, timely information sharing and governance that turns learning into safer practice.
Understanding Advanced Techniques for Professional Curiosity across the NHS
The Provider Selection Regime (PSR) replaced the previous NHS procurement rules in January 2024, introducing new decision-making processes for awarding healthcare contracts. Unlike the previous Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition Regulations, the PSR provides commissioners with greater flexibility — including direct award options where continuity of care, patient safety or service integration justify it. However, the regime also requires commissioners to demonstrate transparent decision-making and to consider whether competitive tendering would better serve patients.
Providers need to understand the three PSR decision-making processes: Direct Award Process A (for services where there is only one capable provider), Direct Award Process B (for services meeting specific criteria around continuity and integration), and the Most Suitable Provider process which involves competitive evaluation. Each route has different evidence requirements and timelines.
The PSR also introduces new requirements around stakeholder engagement. Commissioners must demonstrate that they have considered patient views, provider feedback and clinical input when making award decisions. Providers who engage proactively with commissioners — sharing outcome data, innovation proposals and partnership plans — are better positioned regardless of which award route is used.
The current landscape
Information sharing remains one of the most persistent challenges in safeguarding. The legal framework — including the Data Protection Act 2018, GDPR and the Children Act — permits (and in some cases requires) sharing of information where there are safeguarding concerns. Despite this, practitioners frequently cite data protection as a barrier, leading to dangerous gaps in multi-agency intelligence.
Effective safeguarding governance requires more than compliance metrics. Boards and partnerships need to see qualitative evidence of practice improvement: supervision records that show critical reflection, audit findings that test whether policies are followed in practice, and case examples that demonstrate the impact of multi-agency working.
What organisations need to know
This article focuses on Advanced Techniques for Professional Curiosity across the NHS and the wider priorities around Professional Curiosity, Safeguarding, NHS, healthcare strategy, best practice. The strongest organisations do not treat this as a stand-alone exercise — they connect governance, workforce, communication and evidence so leaders can make decisions quickly and confidently.
Safeguarding partners, providers and system leaders should consider these questions before proceeding:
- How does your organisation support practitioners to exercise professional curiosity?
- What evidence can you show that safeguarding review recommendations have been implemented?
- How do you ensure information sharing happens effectively between agencies?
Practical checklist
Getting Professional Curiosity right requires structured preparation and disciplined follow-through:
- Clarify statutory duties, thresholds, decision-making routes and escalation responsibilities
- Bring agencies together around a shared chronology, agreed risks and clear ownership of actions
- Use supervision, learning events and governance reporting to embed improvement across teams
- Translate Professional Curiosity into named actions, owners and realistic deadlines
- Keep evidence, decisions and outcomes in one place so future assurance, inspection or procurement activity is easier to manage
Evidence you should have ready
Organisations with strong evidence bases consistently perform better in safeguarding activities. Key evidence includes:
- Supervision records demonstrating critical reflection on safeguarding cases
- Multi-agency chronologies and risk assessments from complex cases
- Audit findings showing compliance with safeguarding policies and procedures
Governance considerations
Strong governance underpins successful delivery. For Professional Curiosity, this means:
- Clear escalation pathways that practitioners understand and feel confident using
- Multi-agency review processes with tracked actions and evidence of impact
Common mistakes to avoid
Based on our experience working with safeguarding partners, providers and system leaders, these are the most frequent errors:
- Allowing threshold disputes to delay action on clear risk
- Focusing on process completion without testing whether practice changed
- Producing action plans after reviews without tracking implementation or measuring impact
Avoiding these pitfalls requires leadership commitment, clear accountability and a willingness to seek independent review when internal perspectives may be limited.
How CPGB Ltd can help
We support safeguarding partners, providers and system leaders with safeguarding reviews, practitioner support, governance improvement and multi-agency facilitation. Our team combines frontline health and social care experience with practical consultancy so recommendations are proportionate, evidence-led and built for real delivery.
With over 100 years of combined NHS experience and a track record that includes contracts worth over £200 million, investigations across 50+ NHS trusts and 40+ CQC improvements achieved, we bring both credibility and practical expertise to every engagement.
Contact us to discuss Professional Curiosity and the wider priorities around Safeguarding, NHS, healthcare strategy, best practice.