A situation which is identified as warranting a safeguarding alert from or to health services must be locally managed through the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) or Integrated Care System (ICS) designated safeguarding professional and the CCG Chief Nurse, or equivalent.
Given the increasing confidence in local, ICS and regional safeguarding partnerships we will support every region to optimise existing safeguarding governance and partnership processes for the benefit of the citizen, including the Child Protection-Information Sharing (CP-IS), Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH), statutory duty officers, local safeguarding partnerships and local police processes.
NHS Safeguarding will support a case-discussion template, as below, which is underpinned with strength-based approaches to supporting and empowering the person requiring safeguarding.
1.
Designated professionals must evaluate the case with their local multiagency safeguarding network and clearly identify what action may have already been taken by the Local Authority (LA) as well as any and all services likely to come in contact with the citizen.
this needs to include primary care – i.e do they have a GP or pharmacy?
have they had ambulance services?
what are their places of education saying?
what are children centres / nurseries / play groups / grandparents / neighbourhoods saying?
do they have any Police reports as victim or possible perpetrator?
But we must consider wider services and community assets:
do they use food-banks?
do they frequent specific eateries?
do they have clubs or faith venues they visit?
2.
It is always better to have discussion and decision making on safeguarding with several professionals, especially professionals within the MASH.
Professional curiosity questions might include:
if a child is concerned, is this child party to CP-IS? If not, are the local concerns so great that the child should be party to CP-IS?
if the person local practitioners are concerned about is pregnant, is the unborn child party to CP-IS? If not, are the local concerns so great that the unborn child should be party to CP-IS?
what contextual safeguarding concern is evident for the person? What is happening in the space and place they live in or visit?
what trauma informed journey has the person had? Are they subject to neglect, exploitation, abuse or violence?
who is the lead practitioner to support the citizen in their recovery? There must be a clearly identified person for professionals to link back to
which LAs have previously been involved in the person’s care and support and what action are they undertaking to mitigate the risk?
what multiagency actions are the CCG undertaking to mitigate/lower risk?
how are the CCG linking with their partners in the current/other area the person may be known?
how are the CCG / partners ensuring services are engaging to lower the risks?
what action does the CCG wish the regional team to take?
has a Police missing person alert been issued?
what role is the local MASH managing and how are they linking with other areas, regions, organisations?
3.
In the case of a child or unborn child, the designated professional should ensure with LA partners that the CP-IS system is utilised to alert health partners to any risks or issues.
4.
The local multi-agency network including the GP and any health and care provider with an active care plan should decide what, if any, further action will be necessary and what role health may need to undertake in the agreed actions.
5.
For the protection of adults at risk of harm, health services must ensure that they utilise local and multi-agency networks as effectively as possible.
6.
Health professionals should be cognisant of data protection issues and the rights of individuals and work effectively with safeguarding partners to get the best outcomes, within the scope of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and advice from the relevant Senior Information Responsible Officer (SIRO).
7.
Robust records of all conversations and decisions are strongly recommended.
The Regional Safeguarding Lead is available to be a listening ear and critical friend to discuss and explore all possible options for making connections, internal to health but also across partner organisations.