Children's Safeguarding Advisor

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Safeguarding Team has vacancies for Safeguarding Advisors working within Community Health Services in Lewisham, University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich.

You will work within the Safeguarding Team which covers acute and community health services.

This is an on-site role.

Previous applicants need not apply.

Main duties of the job

You will be involved in providing support, supervision and training to staff and will engage in multi-agency working via attendance at MARAC and MASH as required.

Applicants need to have a sound understanding of safeguarding and experience of working with child protection and vulnerable families. They should have a minimum of 3 years post qualification experience within their specialist practice area of work.

Candidates require exceptional communication skills to deliver to this post.

In return you will work with a team that aims to deliver a first class service and aspires to continuously improve

This is a very exciting and unique opportunity to develop and extend your skills and knowledge in the safeguarding children field.

About us

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Job responsibilities

The Safeguarding Advisor is an experienced specialist practitioner with in-depth knowledge of child protection and advanced analytical skills for safeguarding children acquired through specialist courses and experiential learning from interagency work.

To advise and support staff in complex cases and to work closely with the Trust Named Safeguarding Children Professionals to ensure that appropriate assessment of risks are undertaken in order to improve outcomes for vulnerable/child protection children/families.

The post holder will work as part of a dynamic multi-agency team assessing notifications and referrals regarding children aged 0-18 that are received by Multi- Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). The MASH process includes searching for and collating health information from a range of NHS providers.

The post hold will work across acute and community sites as well as within the Local Authority as part of the MASH.

The post holder will work with the Safeguarding team to deliver safeguarding training in line with Intercollegiate Guidance (2014)

The post holder will work with the Safeguarding team to deliver safeguarding supervision in one to one, group and reflective learning forums.

The post holder will work as part of a dynamic multi-agency integrated team assessing notifications and referrals regarding children aged 0-18 that are received by acute hospital services.

The post holder will have line management responsibility for safeguarding administrator

The Named Nurse for Safeguarding will undertake monthly clinical supervision with the post holder.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

• Registered Nurse
• Community Specialist Practitioner
• Educated to Degree level
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Working towards PG Certificate in Child Protection
• PG cert in child protection
• Working towards MA Safeguarding Children

Experience

• 3 years post Specialist Practitioner qualification.
• Experience of implementing evidence based practice within the clinical governance framework.
• Ability to demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the current issues affecting the delivery of child protection services.
• Ability to lead changes and develop innovative health care service in collaboration with other agencies.
• Experience of working with vulnerable/child protection families.

Knowledge and Skills

• Skills for assessing practitioners' child protection practices interpret complex cases and make recommendations for intervention.
• Day to day supervision for Trust staff and support for other healthcare professionals.
• Plan specialist meetings and workshops involving external parties.
• Organise and facilitate reflective practice forums.
• Produce management reports including statistics for child protection and complex cases for service delivery as required

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£46,148 to £52,809 a yearPer annum plus HCA