Safeguarding children

Declaration and general statement of compliance on safeguarding children

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report on Thursday July 16, 2009, demonstrating its findings of a review of safeguarding arrangements within the NHS. It clearly identified that most trusts have effective and efficient safeguarding arrangements in place. However, the report also highlighted areas where further improvements were required. As a result of this review, East Cheshire NHS Trust has undertaken a review of its safeguarding arrangements and is assured that it complies with the standards expected, regarding its safeguarding agreements.

For more information on Safeguarding Children please contact Melanie Barker on 01625 661770 or email melaniebarker@nhs.net.

Our requirements

The CQC review outlines as a minimum, what is expected of NHS trusts.

Below is the trust’s position in relation to these:

• NHS trusts meet the statutory requirements with regard to conducting Criminal Records Bureau Checks (CRB).
• East Cheshire NHS Trust is assured that the statutory requirements are adhered to with regard to CRB checks.

Child protection policies

Child protection policies and systems are current and robust. This should include systems for monitoring children who miss outpatient appointments and a system to identify children for whom there are safeguarding concerns.

There is a current and robust safeguarding children policy in operation within the trust which is accessible to all staff on the trust intranet. East Cheshire NHS Trust has mechanisms in place to ensure that this policy is reviewed and updated as appropriate and is audited annually.

The trust has systems and processes in place to assist in the identification of children for whom there are safeguarding concerns and to monitor and respond to children who do not attend outpatient appointments within the trust.

Safeguarding training

All eligible staff have undertaken safeguarding training at level one (basic awareness). This should also include a review of additional safeguarding training which is conducted and/or promoted by the trust.

East Cheshire NHS Trust has a safeguarding children training policy in place which clearly identifies employees’ role and responsibilities’ with regard to safeguarding children and their training requirements. This policy is in line with the recommendations of safeguarding children and young people - Roles and competencies for health care staff.

It is a mandatory requirement that all staff at the trust attend safeguarding children training at level one. Level two and level three training is mandatory for all relevant staff who work with children. Written updates are sent to all staff on a yearly basis or when they need to be made aware of any important changes in policy or procedure.

Safeguarding children training is reviewed on an ongoing basis and attendance is audited at a minimum of annually. The trust holds documentary evidence of all training undertaken.

In March 2009, the trust completed the Healthcare Commission (now the Care Quality Commission) child health mapping exercise, which evidenced that the trust had met the standard for safeguarding training requirements of its staff and was consistently high performing.

Named Professionals

Named Professionals are clear about their role and have the appropriate time and support systems in place; in which to conduct their safeguarding duties.

The roles and responsibilities of the named professionals are clearly identified within the safeguarding children policy and their job descriptions. The Safeguarding Team meet regularly with the associate director for the Women’s and Children’s Business Unit, the designated professionals and the medical director to review the safeguarding children work plan. Consideration is given to any competing priorities and is addressed accordingly. The Safeguarding Team provides support for each other within the team and has arrangements in place for peer review and supervision.

Our responsibilities

There is a board level executive director with specific responsibility for safeguarding children. This should also include accountability for ensuring the trust employs robust audit processes; to ensure the safeguarding practices are efficient and effective.

There is a clear accountability pathway and governance structure in respect of safeguarding children within East Cheshire NHS Trust. The medical director is the board level lead for safeguarding children and is supported in this role by the associate director for the Women’s and Children’s Business Unit. The named and designated professionals meet regularly with the medical director to review policy, lessons to be learned from reviews both locally and nationally and the safeguarding agenda. An annual safeguarding children report is submitted and reviewed by the trust board and other issues are referred as required. Robust audit programmes are in place to ensure that safeguarding systems and processes are functioning effectively.

The trust takes its responsibilities for safeguarding children seriously and would want to assure the public and service users, through the publication of the above declaration, that the arrangements in place are robust and meet all statutory and good practice requirements.

East Cheshire NHS Trust will continue to review its arrangements for safeguarding children in light of the CQC review and to ensure readiness for full registration with the CQC by April 2010.

Our objectives

• East Cheshire Trust Safeguarding Children Team is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in East Cheshire.
• The service facilitates partnership working with children and families to improve their health outcomes.
• Working in partnership with key agencies to promote research based best practice. We provide advice, supervision, training and local guidance for professionals whose work brings them into contact with children and their families.

More information

Useful information

Please view the useful resources and forms on the download tab on the right hand menu.