Safeguarding children declaration

19 July 2012

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust is working hard to ensure that all patients, including children, are cared for in a safe, secure and caring environment. As a result, a number of safeguarding children arrangements are in place.

These include:

• Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust meets the statutory requirements in relation to Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks. All staff employed at the Trust under go a CRB check prior to employment, and those working with children undergo an enhanced level of assessment.
  
  

• All of the Trust's child protection policies and systems are up-to-date and robust and are reviewed on a regular basis, with ultimate responsibility resting with the Trust Board. The Child Protection Policy was updated, received and approved by the Trust Executive Committee, on behalf of The Trust Board on 18th April 2012, the Safeguarding Strategy 14.12.11, Child Protection Training Strategy 17.10.11 and Safeguarding Supervision Policy. 17.10.11. The last safeguarding review was in December 2011 when evidence was collated for the Care Quality Commission Essential Standards for Quality Outcome 7 'Safeguarding people who use services from abuse'. Further safeguarding audits of Section 11 Children Act 2004, have been completed and submitted to Surrey LSCB on 29th April 2011 and Merton LSCB 27th January 2012 providing further assurance that safeguarding processes are in place.
  
  

• The Trust has a process in place for following up children who miss outpatient appointments (within any specialty) to ensure their care, and ultimately their health, is not affected in any way. In addition, the Trust has a system in place for identifying children for whom there are safeguarding concerns.
  
  

• All eligible staff have undertaken relevant safeguarding training and this is regularly reviewed to ensure it is up-to-date. The Trust has a robust training strategy in place with regard to delivering safeguarding training and is aligned to The Intercollegiate Document: Roles and Competencies for Healthcare Staff (RCPCH 2010)
  
  

  The status of safeguarding training up to and including March 2012 is as follows:

  91 % of all staff are up-to-date with level one training - the target is 80%;
  93 % of eligible clinical staff are up-to-date on level two training - the target is 80%;
  89 % of eligible clinical staff are up-to-date on level three training - the target is 80%;
  91 % of staff who require level 3 training and who give direct patient care have
  been trained - the target is 80%.

  
  Training is reviewed and monitored on a monthly basis at the Safeguarding Children's Committee Meetings, and quarterly at the statutory and mandatory training committee meetings and risk management meetings.

  
  

• The Trust has named professionals who lead on issues in relation to safeguarding. They are clear about their roles, have sufficient time and receive relevant support and training to undertake their roles, which includes close contact with other social and health care organisations.

  
  The total number of named professionals in these roles is four and they are broken down by discipline as follows:
  Named nurse       WTE 1.0
  Named doctor *2     WTE 0.4
  Named midwife      WTE 1.0
  In addition, there are two supportive roles:
  Specialist nurse child protection    WTE 0.85
  Administration support - named nurse  WTE 0.8
  (WTE = Whole time equivalent) * Named Dr's have 0.2 PA's on each site.

Two Lead Anaesthetists for Safeguarding, who are currently employed as Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetists, have been identified for the Epsom and St. Helier sites. The purpose of the role is to act as a link between the Anaesthetic departments and child protection services within The Trust and as a source of knowledge within the department ensuring safeguarding updates and training requirements are passed on to colleagues. The Lead has responsibility to attend Level 3 Child Protection Training and develop Level 3 core competencies. The implementation of this role is in accordance with the Intercollegiate Document (RCPCH 2010) and the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

The Director of Nursing is the executive lead for safeguarding children and chairs the safeguarding children committee which reports to the Trust Board on matters relating to safeguarding children.

The Trust Board takes the issue of safeguarding extremely seriously and receives an Annual Report on safeguarding children issues. The Interim Safeguarding Report was received and approved by The Trust Board on 14 January 2012 and the relevant Board paper can be found here. The annual safeguarding report 2011-12 was presented and approved by The Trust Board on 13 July 2012.

The Trust Board has robust audit programmes to assure itself that its safeguarding systems and processes are working. This will be discussed with the local safeguarding children board every three months.