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About us
Safeguarding children
St George's Healthcare works hard to ensure that all children and young people are cared for in a safe, secure and caring environment. As a result, a number of safeguarding arrangements are in place. These include:
- St George’s Healthcare meets the (NHS) statutory requirements in relation to the Criminal Records Bureau check. All staff who work clinically, or have regular contact with patients during the course of their duties, receive enhanced CRB clearance and where appropriate, ISA checking.
- The trust Safeguarding Children Policy was updated in September 2009 and will be reviewed again as new guidance comes out or formally in three years, whichever is sooner.
- St George's Healthcare has a process in place for following up children who miss out patient appointments. Any child who does not attend will have their notes reviewed by the consultant in charge of their care. This process has been reviewed by the Named Doctor for Safeguarding and a new policy is imminent
- The trust also has a system in place for flagging the children of Wandsworth and Merton, and imminently Lambeth and Sutton, for whom there are child protection plans in place as they come through the A&E department. The Named Doctor for Safeguarding is working with the information technology team to ensure that the new electronic patient record allows staff to identify children of concern
- The trust has a robust strategy in place to deliver safeguarding training to staff. A new system of recording all training on the electronic staff record commenced in 2010, which provides the trust with accurate training data.
- Level 1 training;85% of all staff are up to date - the target is 80%
- Level 2 training:
- Via induction 1501 staff have received level 2 training
- 1762 clinical staff over the last three years have received level 2 training
- This is a total of 3263 staff out of total of 4966 clinical staff with direct contact with patients (work force figures) = 66% (target is 80%)
- Level 3 training:
- A focused three month programme until the end of August has been implemented providing two sessions per week .
- To date, since 2008 a total of 320 staff have been trained (the strategy is for 900 to be trained)
- A further training programme will be continued throughout the year.
- The last training review occurred in February 2010 and a new strategy and programme for training has been developed.
- There is an action plan to improve the number of staff trained at both level 2 and 3
- St George's Healthcare endeavors to raise awareness through various means:
- Leaflets attached to staff pay slips in 2009
- Training programmes made available to staff on the trust’s intranet
- Designated Doctor working closely with the Named Doctor and medical staff, and providing weekly supervision sessions
- Training at level 2 included on induction programmes for both medical and other staff at the trust
- The trust has named professionals who lead on issues in relation to safeguarding. They are clear about their roles and receive relevant support and training to undertake their duties, which include close contact with other social and health care organisations. The total number of professionals in these roles are broken down by discipline, as follows:
- 0.4 Nurse WTE
- 0.2 Named Midwife
- 0.1 Named Doctor
- 0.1 Administration support WTE
- New funding has been identified for a full-time named nurse at band 8a, currently advertised, and three more programmed activities (PAs) of a pediatrician
- The trust also pays for one PA of the designated pediatrician and therefore benefits from this amount of time and expertise in the Trust
- St George’s Healthcare has a Named Doctor, a Named Nurse, a Named Midwife and a structure of supporting nurses in various departments. For example, there is a deputy named nurse, a lead nurse in A&E, a lead nurse for all outpatient departments, and a lead nurse in the neonatal unit
- This safeguarding team meets regularly with the designated doctor and has a clear action plan.
- The Director of Nursing is the Executive Director lead for Safeguarding Children and the Named Nurse chairs the Safeguarding Committee which reports to the trust’s Board
- The trust underwent a peer review by NHS London in February 2010 which confirmed that St George’s Healthcare has made good progress, and also supported the need for the increase in establishment of named professionals at the trust
The Trust Board takes the issue of safeguarding extremely seriously and receives an annual report on safeguarding children issues. The last annual report was presented in July 2009 and was discussed again in January 2010. The board paper relating to this can be found with the Trust Board papers and ca also be provided from the Patient Safety Committee.
The designated doctor for safeguarding presented to the Board in July 2010, and the next annual report will be presented in September 2010. The trust Board has audit programmes to assure that safeguarding systems and processes are working at St George’s Healthcare. This is discussed with the Local Safeguarding Children Board every year.
David Astley,
Chief Excutive St. George's Healthcare NHS Trust
