Named Professional Safeguarding Children

This role supports the Head of Safeguarding Adults and Children.

The role entails working across the local health and social care economies to prevent harm, fostering and facilitating multi-professional interagency working in respect of Safeguarding Children.

Ensuring statutory responsibilities of the Children Act (1989 & 2004) are met. These obligations are fulfilled by providing clinical guidance across the field of safeguarding and protecting children.

The scope of the post includes cooperation across agencies in the contribution and development of child protection practice, supervision, education, accountability, governance and provision of expert advice based upon mandatory and statutory frameworks and guidelines. Working collaboratively in providing high quality evidence-based services to support the development of effective inter-disciplinary and inter-agency relationships with other NHS Trusts, Local Authority, Police, Education and other Statutory and Voluntary agencies in order to minimise the risks to children and their families.

The post holder is required to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and/or contentious information where significant barriers to acceptance need to be overcome using the highest levels of interpersonal and communication skills.

Main duties of the job

• To support and provide guidance to Trust staff on a day-to-day basis, dealing with cases of actual or suspected child abuse and to provide practice support for staff delivering services to safeguard children.
• Clinical leadership, advice and support, proactive and reactive to Trust staff and their managers in relation to safeguarding children.
• Monitor professional practice, within the identified locality through a variety of methods, including child protection supervision, to ascertain whether child protection policies, procedures and standards are adhered to.
• Provide and maintain a framework for child protection supervision to Trust staff and act as a supervisor analysing sensitive and complex information and the range of actions necessary, ensuring compliance with NMC and Trust policies, including record keeping, are adhered to.

About us

At Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT), we deliver a wide range of physical, mental health, learning disability and autism services, and are proud to serve communities across Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond.

We put 'people at our heart'; this ethos is at the centre of everything we do and how we do it. We care for our staff and colleagues as much as they care for others and offer a wide range of benefits and development opportunities.

These include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement which increases during your time with us.
• Excellent learning and development opportunities, including apprenticeship frameworks, distance learning, internal training, coaching and mentoring, and much more.
• Salary sacrifice schemes for Cycle to Work, home and electronics, gym membership and more.
• Discounts with a range of retailers, restaurants and entertainment venues through our Employee Assistance Programme and NHS discount schemes.
• Wellbeing support, including an in-house counselling service, external helpline and more.
• Staff networks and support group.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Promoting Safeguarding

To promote the safeguarding of children with a focus on the Integrated Children’s Directorate. This includes a variety of services, Learning Disability and Autism, Children Physical Health and Mental Health Services for Children and Young People.

To identify and champion the think family agenda in order to safeguard children.

To promote continuous improvement in the delivery of excellent services.

Ensure that the views of people who use or may use social care services, their carers, families and representatives are taken into account in the development and implementation of safeguarding children and their families/carers.

Training

To consider the safeguarding children training needs for the organisation’s staff from induction to specialist training needs.

To design/deliver or commission training that gives the opportunity for retention of knowledge and facilitates transfer of learning experiences to the workplace and then to evaluate the training.

Ensure information including safeguarding children training attendance (multi and single agency) is forwarded to Trust Learning and Development Dept. for inclusion on the training database.

To contribute to multi-agency pool in delivering training.

Specialist Knowledge

To apply knowledge of the current legislation around promoting and safeguarding the health, welfare and safety of vulnerable children, knowledge of national and local policies, knowledge of inter-agency roles and responsibilities.

To actively disseminate knowledge through publications, conference presentations and participation in local and national groups relevant to safeguarding children’s agenda.

Increase the awareness in the Trust regarding their safeguarding and protecting responsibilities, and their access to the safeguarding support networks and facilitate the Trust learning within single and multi-agency framework in relation to statutory and mandatory responsibilities.

Review research in the area of safeguarding children and advise the Trust accordingly.

Undertake any research appropriate to the role with the agreement of the Head of Safeguarding for Children and Adults.

Advice and Support

To promote good professional practice within the Trust around safeguarding children by providing advice and guidance.

To assist and participate (where appropriate) in investigations of alleged professional misconduct and/or patient complaints in cases where child protection/child in need factors have been identified.

To improve patient care through leadership of investigations of abuse and through empowering all Trust staff to identify and tackle abuse.

To help plan, develop and evaluate systems to gather, collate, analyse, interpret, monitor, present, disseminate and generally act as a repository for safeguarding children’s information within the Trust.

To analyse incoming data and produce reports of recommendations from a range of options.

To take appropriate steps to ensure that decisions and recommendations in Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) Domestic Abuse Related Death Review (DARDR), Safeguarding Children Reviews, Multi Agency Case Reviews and Trusts Individual Management Reviews pertaining to the safeguarding of children.

Multi-Agency Working

To participate in and promote multi-agency working by liaising closely with the Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

To attend relevant meetings both internal and external to the organisation eg. Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) Sub Groups.

The post holder will represent the Trust on multi-agency meetings where complex multi-stranded concepts are discussed and will have to communicate the Trust’s viewpoint and vision clearly, enabling others to share that vision.

Evidence Based Practice

To use research and core audit skills to evaluate to assist, develop and improve standards of practice and use Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews recommendations to inform and improve practice.

To maintain personal professional competency and appropriate development.

Policies and Service Responsibilities

To contribute to the delivery and monitoring of national and local Safeguarding Children policies and procedures.

To produce and implement written policies and procedures to be applied within the Trust and to help in the auditing/review of safeguarding policies.

Clinical Governance

Assist appropriately in relevant audits on safeguarding children that are undertaken by Trust staff.

To offer leadership, expert advice and support to the Trust staff, managers and the multi-agency network in relation to safeguarding children with particular regard to decision making where professional opinion varies.

Support Trust staff with safeguarding thresholds and escalation processes.

To support and provide guidance to the Trust staff, on a day-to-day basis to ensure children are appropriately safeguarded.

To contribute to the Trust’s clinical governance agenda by supporting and evaluating best practice in safeguarding children and ensuring that this informs all aspects of the Trust’s agenda.

To take part in audit programmes, which will monitor, evaluate and recommend improvements in the quality and effectiveness of safeguarding adults practice.

To maintain and improve the quality of services to children in utilising the Trust governance framework, audit and evaluation to monitor quality of provision single and multi-agency on a regular basis.

To monitor Section 11 Compliance (Children Act 2004) and to be involved with audit in this area as required.

Facilitate and co-ordinate the provision of witness statements and provide expert knowledge to practitioners in relation to legal proceedings relating to child protection in conjunction with clinical and information governance, attend court to support staff and provide de-briefing.

When necessary ensure Managers, Trust Legal Advisor, Solicitors and Data Protection Leads are informed/consulted, in relation to court processes.

Provide support to staff when giving police statements.

Child Safeguarding Practice Review

To contribute to the Child Serious Case Reviews involving the organisation, undertaking internal reviews where appropriate.

Undertake and contribute in Child Safeguarding Practice Review Domestic Abuse Related Death Review (DARDR), Multi Agency Reviews negotiating outcomes with the production of Individual Management Reviews, disseminating trends, research and promoting clinical quality and outcomes, actions and recommendations.

To undertake/join investigations where the issue spans several statutory agencies, which will require empathy and negotiating skills to obtain the relevant information.

Co-ordinate and contribute to action plans and the learning following the above reviews with the safeguarding team.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant Professional Nursing Qualification
• Educated to Degree level or equivalent experience.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Knowledge of child safeguarding and domestic violence issues including policies and procedures.
• In depth knowledge of the nature and effects of child abuse.
• Understanding of local partners to be engaged and knowledge of the NHS, and Local Authorities.
• A proven track record of innovative practice and change management related to service development.
• Project Management Skills.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in a complex multi-professional organisational environment and strategic partnership level with other statutory, voluntary and private sector organisations.
• Appropriate demonstrable experience in an area related to safeguarding Children.

Employer details

Employer name

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust

Address

Wayside House

Wilsons Lane

Coventry

CV6 6NY

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.