How Child Protection - Information Sharing (CP-IS) works

How CP-IS enables secure information exchange between systems, and the technical approaches used by different products.

Overview

When a child is known to social care and has 'looked after' status or is on a child protection plan, basic information about that person's care plan is shared securely with CP-IS.

If that child attends an NHS unscheduled care setting, such as an emergency department or a minor injury unit:

the health team is alerted that the patient is on a plan and has access to the contact details for the social care team
the social care team is automatically notified that the child has attended unscheduled care
both parties can see details of the child's previous visits (up to 25) to unscheduled care settings in England

CP-IS does not send notifications for visits to scheduled care.

When the mother of an unborn child is known to social care and subject to an unborn child protection plan, this information is shared securely with the NHS and processed in the same way.

A factsheet has been produced that explains what the CP-IS system is and why it has been developed.

Watch the video to find out more about what CP-IS is and how it works.

How CP-IS connects systems

Local authority's social care worker uploads vulnerable child details to CP-IS and receives notifications if the details are accessed because they attend an NHS care setting. such as an emergency department.

Text description

Local authority social care workers can access CP-IS through their point-of-care application, such as a social care case management software.
Once accessed, the social care worker can upload patient details to the CP-IS database.
These details can then be accessed by NHS Healthcare workers in both scheduled and unscheduled care, through a local point-of care application or the National Care Records Service (NCRS).
When a patient’s details have been accessed, the CP-IS database will send an access notification to alert the social care worker.

At a technical level:

social care applications communicate with CP-IS via the MESH national messaging system
unscheduled and scheduled care applications communicate with CP-IS via the CP-IS HL7 V3 API
Patient Flag FHIR API (in development) will include the CP-IS flag, enabling unscheduled and scheduled care applications to securely access child protection information as part of the next generation of the CP-IS service

Animations

Our short videos demonstrate what CP-IS is, how it works and how it affects the care that vulnerable children receive.

How CP-IS works with other services

Service	Relationship
Female Genital Mutilation - Information Sharing (FGM-IS)	FGM-IS is another safeguarding service that may be displayed alongside CP-IS in care settings such as NCRS. Both services help professionals identify safeguarding concerns and support appropriate action.
Message Exchange for Social Care and Health (MESH)	National messaging service that social care settings use to communication with CP-IS.
National Care Records Service (NCRS)	NCRS is one of the main ways healthcare professionals view CP-IS information. CP-IS safeguarding flags are displayed within the patient record alongside other national patient information to support care decisions.
Patient Flags service	CP-IS is part of the Patient Flags service. Patient Flags provides the underlying framework for sharing national flags, including safeguarding information. CP-IS is one of the flags delivered through this capability.
Reasonable Adjustments	A separate Patient Flags service that helps record and share information about a person's adjustment needs. It is related because both services use the Patient Flags framework and may be viewed together in systems such as NCRS, but they serve different user needs.

Media and bulletins

Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0300 3033888

Our bulletin provides the latest news on the CP-IS project nationally and information about new materials and events.

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Last edited: 4 August 2026 10:40 am