Partner notification policy (sexual health)

1. What the regulation says

Care and treatment must be provided in a safe way for service users. (Reg 12(1) (the headline duty))

assessing the risks to the health and safety of service users of receiving the care or treatment, (Reg 12(2)(a) (risk assessment))

doing all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate any such risks, (Reg 12(2)(b) (risk mitigation))

assessing the risk of, and preventing, detecting and controlling the spread of, infections, including those that are health care associated, (Reg 12(2)(h) (infection control))

Regulation 17 adds the governance duty under which partner notification outcomes are monitored:

assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided in the carrying on of the regulated activity (including the quality of the experience of service users in receiving those services) ... assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others who may be at risk which arise from the carrying on of the regulated activity. (Reg 17(2)(a) and (b): quality and risk)

The full text of Regulation 12 is at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/12 and Regulation 17 is at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/17. Where this policy and the regulation diverge, the regulation wins.

2. Plain-English summary

Care and treatment must be provided in a safe way. The regulation lists the areas a provider must address, including risk assessment, risk mitigation, staff competence, safe premises, safe equipment, sufficient equipment and medicines, medicines safety, infection prevention and shared-care planning. Regulation 12 is central to CQC's safety expectations.

For partner notification this means the Service identifies and offers testing and treatment to the partners of someone diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection, in a way that controls onward transmission and protects the patient from reinfection, while protecting the identity of the person first diagnosed. The clinical detail (look-back periods and methods) follows current BASHH partner notification standards, which the Service must verify before adoption.

3. Purpose

When someone is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection, their recent partners may also be infected, often without symptoms. Partner notification (contact tracing) offers those partners testing and treatment, breaks the chain of transmission, and protects the patient from reinfection. It must be done in a way that protects the identity of the person first diagnosed. This policy sets out how the Service carries out partner notification, sensitively and confidentially.

The Service must verify this policy against current BASHH partner notification standards before adoption.

4. Scope

This policy applies to:

• partner notification for the sexually transmitted infections the Service diagnoses
• the clinicians and health advisers who carry it out
• the index patient (the person first diagnosed) and their partners

5. Offering partner notification

• partner notification is offered to every patient diagnosed with an infection for which it is appropriate, sensitively and without judgement
• the patient is told why it matters, for their partners' health and to prevent their own reinfection
• the patient is supported to take part, but is not coerced; their consent and choices are recorded

6. The look-back period and which partners

For each infection the Service uses the recognised look-back period (how far back partners should be traced) from current BASHH guidance, and helps the patient identify the partners within it. The Service confirms the periods it uses against the current standards.

7. Methods of notification

The Service agrees with the patient how partners will be told, using the recognised methods:

• patient referral: the patient tells their partners themselves, with the Service's support and information to give them
• provider referral: the Service contacts the partners, with the patient's consent, without revealing who named them
• contract referral: the patient agrees to tell their partners within an agreed time, failing which the Service does it

Whichever method is used, the index patient's identity is protected. A partner is never told who named them.

8. Protecting the index patient

• partner notification is carried out so that no partner can identify the index patient
• where revealing certain details would identify the index patient, the Service does not reveal them
• the index patient's confidentiality (see the confidentiality policy) is maintained throughout

9. Recording and outcomes

• the partners identified, the method agreed, and the outcomes (partners contacted, tested and treated) are recorded for each index case, in line with the confidentiality policy
• the Service reviews partner notification outcomes as a measure of effectiveness, looking at the proportion of partners reached

10. Difficult situations

• where a patient refuses partner notification and there is a serious risk to an identifiable person, the Service follows its confidentiality policy on disclosure in the public interest, weighing the decision carefully and recording it
• where a named partner raises a safeguarding concern (for example a child, or coercion or abuse), the Service follows the under-18s and safeguarding policy. Where a child or young person is involved, decisions are informed by Fraser guidelines and Gillick competence and by Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026
• HIV and certain infections may have specific considerations; the Service follows the current BASHH guidance for these

Operational controls to adapt

Roles and responsibilities

• Registered Manager: owns partner-notification governance, makes sure the service has competent staff and reviews outcome data, complaints and incidents.
• Clinician or sexual-health adviser: explains partner notification, agrees the method, records look-back decisions, protects the index patient's identity and escalates safeguarding or public-interest concerns.
• Results owner: triggers partner notification from relevant positive results and checks that cases are not closed before the agreed action is complete.
• Administration staff: support appointments and messages only within the agreed confidentiality script and do not disclose the index patient's identity.
• Safeguarding lead: advises where coercion, domestic abuse, under-18s, exploitation, trafficking or immediate danger is suspected.

Partner-notification procedure

1. Trigger partner notification from the diagnosis. Positive results that require partner notification are flagged to the responsible clinician or adviser on the day they are reviewed.
2. Confirm the look-back period. The responsible clinician applies current BASHH guidance and records the period used and any clinical reason for varying it.
3. Discuss safety first. Ask about coercion, domestic abuse, honour-based abuse, exploitation, age differences and whether any contact could increase risk.
4. Agree the method. Record patient referral, provider referral or contract referral, the agreed timescale and what information the patient has been given.
5. Protect identity. Provider messages to partners must not reveal who named them, diagnosis details that identify the index patient, or any unnecessary personal information.
6. Track outcomes. Record partners identified, contacted, booked, tested, treated, declined or uncontactable, using agreed codes where the service has them.
7. Escalate unresolved high-risk cases. Repeated non-contact, high-risk infection, safeguarding concern or serious risk to an identifiable person is reviewed by the clinical lead and safeguarding lead.
8. Review effectiveness. Outcome measures are reviewed through governance, especially partner contact rates, treatment completion, reinfection and confidentiality incidents.

Records and register links

The partner-notification record should include:

• index diagnosis, result date, responsible clinician and date partner notification was offered
• look-back period, number or type of partners identified and method agreed
• safety screen for coercion, abuse, exploitation, under-18 concerns or immediate danger
• patient information given and any consent, refusal or contract-referral deadline
• attempts made, dates, outcome for each partner and whether treatment or referral was completed
• reason for closing a case as uncontactable, declined or transferred
• public-interest disclosure or safeguarding rationale where used
• linked incident, safeguarding, risk, complaint or improvement-action reference

Missed partner-notification triggers, accidental identity disclosure, unresolved high-risk infection and repeated poor outcome rates are opened on the incident, safeguarding, risk or improvement-actions register as appropriate.

11. Training

Clinicians and health advisers who carry out partner notification are trained and competent in it, including the look-back periods, the methods and the confidentiality protections, and are refreshed on a stated cadence. The Service records who is competent and the next refresher date.

12. Audit cadence

The Service checks, on a stated cadence, that:

• partner notification was offered for every relevant diagnosis and the patient's choices recorded
• the correct look-back periods and methods were used
• the index patient's identity was protected
• outcomes are recorded and reviewed, and difficult situations were handled per the confidentiality and safeguarding policies

The Registered Manager and the clinical lead review the results and record the improvement actions that follow.

13. Sources and further reading

This template is based on CQC's guidance for providers and managers, the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and other topic-specific legislation and guidance listed below. It is a starting point for adaptation, not a substitute for legal, clinical, HR, safeguarding or specialist professional advice.

Original sources carried forward from this policy:

• British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), partner notification standards: https://www.bashh.org/
• UK Health Security Agency, sexual health and STI surveillance guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency
• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/12
• The Service's confidentiality in sexual health policy

Source-pack stack for sexual health: partner notification:

• BASHH partner notification guidance
• The Service's confidentiality in sexual health policy
• UKHSA sexual health and STI surveillance guidance
• CQC Regulation 12: Safe care and treatment
• CQC Regulation 17: Good governance
• Where a child or young person is involved: Fraser guidelines and Gillick competence; Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026; local safeguarding children procedures; CQC Regulation 13

Related reading

• Related policy: Confidentiality in sexual health policy
• Related policy: STI testing, results and PrEP policy
• Related policy: Under-18s and safeguarding policy
• Related policy: Data breach policy

14. When to seek further advice

Seek specialist advice where the issue involves serious harm, safeguarding, deprivation of liberty, restraint, children, professional misconduct, controlled drugs, radiation, termination of pregnancy, infection outbreak, water safety, employment dismissal, DBS barring referral, or regulatory enforcement.

15. Document control

This sample policy template was issued by Verivius. It is a template, not a substitute for legal advice or the tenant's own policy-development process. Where this template and live law or regulator guidance diverge, the live source wins.