Safeguarding children
West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and takes its responsibility seriously.
All staff have a duty to uphold our values to make patients feel safe, cared for and confident; putting our patients first, providing safe and effective care, and to be aware of the special attention children and young people (under 18 years of age) should be given while in our care.
The Trust takes the responsibility of safeguarding children seriously. We have a dedicated team of staff who have specialist expertise in safeguarding children and are available to all staff for advice and training and our Executive Chief Nurse has board level responsibility for safeguarding children ensuring that the board is satisfied that all measures are taken to safeguard children in our care.
We have reviewed our practice and can confirm that the Board is assured that the Trust has the following in place:
DBS checks are carried out for all eligible new staff. In the priority areas where staff work directly with children (Paediatrics, Maternity and the Neonatal Unit). Individuals are not permitted to commence in post until a satisfactory disclosure has been obtained or the necessary supervisory arrangements are in place.
The Trust has an up-to-date and robust safeguarding policy which includes a process for following up children who miss outpatient appointments and a system for flagging children for whom there are safeguarding concerns.
The Trust’s Safeguarding training strategy and mandatory training matrix identifies the level of Safeguarding training required for all staff within the organisation. The Trust’s central training database enables monitoring of all eligible staff to ensure they have undertaken and are up to date with all levels of safeguarding training.
Our safeguarding team includes
Dr Raman Lakshman - Named doctor
Elizabeth Ellis - Head of safeguarding
Tara Odebrecht – Named nurse for safeguarding children – acute services.
Jo Stroud - Named nurse for safeguarding children – community services
Hayley Rowan - Named midwife
Julia Dunn - Clinical liaison nurse for domestic abuse
Sue Wilkinson - Executive director and Safeguarding lead
These posts are additionally supported by the professional leads (‘Designated’ posts), link nurses and allocated administrative support.
There is an annual safeguarding report to the Trust Board and routine performance management reports to the WSH Safeguarding committee, which formally reports to the Clinical Standards subcommittee of the Board on a six-monthly basis. In addition to these arrangements; exception reporting to the Board provides a framework for communicating local and national publications and specific concerns.
The Safeguarding rolling audit and monitoring programme provides robust assurance that safeguarding systems and processes are working.