About this role
Job summary
ROLE SUMMARY
In August 2019, RCPCH published Safeguarding children and young people: roles and competencies for Paediatricians to ensure that members fully understand the competencies that are required of them at Level 3 and 3+ (Paediatricians and Paediatricians in training).
The content here in this document has been taken from the full intercollegiate document Safeguarding children and young people: roles and competencies for healthcare staff, published by the Royal College of Nursing in January 2019. It describes the competencies for those working at Level 4 as well as setting out the model job description for these roles
Job purpose
It should be noted that the Named and Designated professional are distinct roles and as such must be separate post holders.
It should also be noted that these roles are dedicated posts and should not be combined with responsibilities for adult safeguarding or looked-after children.
The job descriptions of specialist professionals should reflect an appropriate workload, covering both roles and responsibilities for child protection and for the rest of their work. Job descriptions should be agreed by the employing organisation.
All provider organisations should have a named doctor or nurse for child protection, a named midwife (in organisations delivering maternity services), a named health professional in ambulance organisations and named GP for organisations commissioning.
Main duties of the job
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Duties
Support all activities necessary to ensure that the organisation meets its responsibilities to safeguard/protect children and young people.
Be responsible to and accountable within the managerial framework of the employing organisation.
At all times and in relation to the roles and responsibilities listed, work as a member of the organisation's safeguarding/child protection team.
About us
Sponsorship - We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship.You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.
Job description Job responsibilities
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Duties
Support all activities necessary to ensure that the organisation meets its responsibilities to safeguard/protect children and young people.
Be responsible to and accountable within the managerial framework of the employing organisation.
At all times and in relation to the roles and responsibilities listed, work as a member of the organisations safeguarding/child protection team.
Leadership and advisory role
Support and advise the board of the healthcare organisation about safeguarding/child protection.
Contribute to the planning and strategic organisation of safeguarding/child protection services.
Work with other specialist safeguarding/ child protection professionals on planning and developing a strategy for safeguarding/child protection services.
Ensure advice is available to the full range of specialties within the organisation on the day-today management of children and families where there are safeguarding/child protection concerns.
Provide advice (direct and indirect) to colleagues on the assessment, treatment and clinical services for all forms of child maltreatment including neglect, emotional and physical abuse, fabricated or induced illness (FII), child sexual abuse, honour-based violence, trafficking, sexual exploitation, detention and within the prevent strategy.
Clinical
Support and advise colleagues in the clinical assessment and care of children and young people where there are safeguarding/child protection concerns, as part of own clinical role, whilst being clear about others personal clinical professional accountability.
Support and advise other professionals on the management of all forms of child maltreatment, including relevant legal frameworks and documentation.
Assess and evaluate evidence, write reports and present information to child protection conferences and related meetings.
Provide advice and signposting to other professionals about legal processes, key research and policy documents.
Co-ordination and communication
Work closely with other specialist safeguarding/child protection professionals across the healthcare services.
Ensure the outcomes of health advisory group discussions at an organisational level are communicated to the safeguarding/child protection team and other staff, as appropriate.
Work closely with the board-level executive lead for safeguarding/child protection within the healthcare organisation.
Liaise with professional leads from other agencies, such as education and childrens social care.
Governance: policies and procedures
Ensure that the healthcare organisation has safeguarding/child protection policies and procedures in line with legislation, national guidance, and the guidance of the LSP/the safeguarding panel of the health and social care trust/ the child protection committee.
Contribute to the dissemination and implementation of organisational policies and procedures.
Encourage case discussion, reflective practice, and the monitoring of significant events at a local level.
Training
Work with specialist safeguarding/ child protection professionals across healthcare services and with the training sub-groups of the LSP/the safeguarding panel of the health and social care trust/the child protection committee to agree and promote training needs and priorities.
Ensure that every site of the health organisation has a training strategy in line with national and local expectations.
Contribute to the delivery of training for health staff and inter-agency training.
Evaluate training and adapt provision according to feedback from participants.
Tailor provision to meet the learning needs of participants.
Monitoring
Advise employers on the implementation of effective systems of audit.
Contribute to monitoring the quality and effectiveness of services, including monitoring performance against indicators and standards.
Contribute, as clinically appropriate, to serious case reviews/case management reviews/significant case reviews, and individual management reviews/ individual agency reviews/internal management reviews.
Disseminate lessons learnt from serious case reviews/case management reviews/ significant case reviews, and advise on the implementation of recommendations.
Appraisal and job planning
Receive annual appraisal as per the requirement by the regulatory body, from a professional trained in effective appraisal. Where the appraiser has no specialist knowledge of safeguarding/ child protection or the knowledge of the individuals professional context and framework they should seek input into the process from the designated professional.
Named doctors should receive an annual job plan review to include objective setting for the safeguarding element of the post. Input from the designated doctor should be encouraged to ensure objectives cover the safeguarding element of the post.
Accountability
Be accountable to the chief executive of the employing body.
Report to the medical director, nurse director or board lead with primary responsibility for childrens services and safeguarding within the organisation.
Authority
Should have the authority to carry out all of the above duties on behalf of the employing body and should be supported in so doing by the organisation and by colleagues.
Resources required for the post
Professionals roles should be explicitly defined in job descriptions, and sufficient time and funding must be allowed to fulfil their child safeguarding responsibilities effectively.
The time required to undertake the tasks outlined in this job description will depend on the size and needs of the population, the number of staff, the number and type of directorates/operational units covered by the healthcare organisation, whether the organisation provides tertiary services and the level of development of local safeguarding/child protection structures, process and function.
The healthcare organisation should supply dedicated secretarial and administrative support for named professionals.
The employing body should ensure that during a serious case review/ case management review/significant case review the professional is relieved of some of their other duties.
The employing body should delegate these appropriately to ensure that the work of the specialist safeguarding/child protection professional is still carried out effectively.
The healthcare organisation should supply additional support when the professional is undertaking an individual management review/individual agency review/internal management review, as part of a serious case review/case management review/significant case review.
Given the stressful nature of the work, the healthcare organisation should provide safeguarding/child protection focused support and supervision for the specialist professional.
Core competencies
Contributes as a member of the safeguarding team to the development of strong internal safeguarding/child protection policy, guidelines, and protocols.
Able to effectively communicate local safeguarding knowledge, research and findings from audits, challenge poor practice and address areas where there is an identified training/development opportunity.
Facilitates and contributes to own organisation audits, multi-agency audits and statutory inspections.
Works with the safeguarding/child protection team and partners in other agencies to conduct safeguarding training needs analysis, and to commission, plan, design, deliver and evaluate single and inter-agency training and teaching for staff in the organisations covered.
Undertakes and contributes to serious case reviews/case management reviews/ significant case reviews (in Wales child practice reviews)/domestic homicide reviews which include children individual management reviews/individual agency reviews/internal management reviews, and child death reviews where requested, and undertakes chronologies, and the development of action plans using a root cause analysis approach where appropriate or other locally approved methodologies.
Co-ordinates and contributes to implementation of action plans and the learning following the above reviews with the safeguarding/child protection team.
Works effectively with colleagues from other organisations, providing advice as appropriate.
Provides advice and information about safeguarding/child protection to the employing authority, both proactively and reactively this includes the board, directors, and senior managers.
Provides specialist advice to practitioners, both actively and reactively, including clarification about organisational policies, legal issues and the management of child protection cases.
Provides safeguarding/child protection supervision and leads or ensures appropriate reflective practice is embedded in the organisation to include peer review.
Participates in sub-groups, as required, of the LSP/the safeguarding panel of the health and social care trust/the child protection committee in Scotland/the safeguarding committee of the health board or trust in Wales.
Leads/oversees safeguarding/child protection quality assurance and improvement processes.
Undertakes risk assessments of the organisations ability to safeguard/protect children and young people.
Person Specification
Assessment Essential
Full GMC registration, licence to practice and specialist registration in Paediatrics or Adolescent Psychiatry (or eligible for or within 6 months of eligibility for) Primary medical degree MRCPCH/MRCP by examination or equivalent Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health / MRCPsych or equivalent Hold consultant status or a senior post with equivalent training and experience. Evidence of continuous personal / professional training relating to safeguarding Valid BLS Training Valid level 3 Safeguarding Training
Desirable
Higher Degree e.g. MSc DCH, DCCH, MBA or other relevant diplomas Valid APLS
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.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Address Alder Hey Childrens Hospital
Eaton Road
Liverpool
L12 2PA
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://alderhey.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)