Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Purpose: 

The post holder will work as part of the East of England Think Family Safeguarding Team with responsibility and professional accountability as a specialist professional for safeguarding children and adults. The post holder will maintain their expert specialism of either adult or child safeguarding, however there is an expectation the post holder can safeguard people of all ages and will seek support from the wider child or adult safeguarding team as needed to enable this. The post holder will be a committed, expert practitioner working in the Think Family Safeguarding Team, delivering quality training; supervision; and expert advice to ensure the trust meets its statutory responsibilities in safeguarding children and adults. Deputise for Named Nurse on Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Safeguarding Adult Reviews, Domestic Homicide Reviews, Serious Violence Reviews, LeDeR and internal incidents will be a significant element of the work of the Deputy Named Nurse, as will supporting the health aspect of partnership working.

Main Duties and Responsibilities 

Deputise for the Named Nurses when appropriate, regarding safeguarding children and adults and to actively contribute to the development of links with other agencies.

Promote awareness within the Trust of everyone’s responsibility to safeguard children and adults at risk and promote their welfare.

Deliver specialist safeguarding supervision to practitioners on issues related to safeguarding children and adults at risk, facilitating reflective and critical analysis against agreed outcomes and using a Think Family approach to guide and support clinical practice.

To lead on development of defined areas of safeguarding practice as determined by the Named Nurse and Head/Assistant Director of Safeguarding.

To support practitioners to embed ‘Think Family’ across the Trust. 

To lead the locality Safeguarding Team in working collaboratively with partners by supporting effective timely communication and information sharing both internally and externally which supports multidisciplinary/interagency working.

Provide expert advice support and guidance to all staff within East of England NHS Trust in relation to safeguarding children and adults at risk.

Encourage practitioners to listen to and act on the ‘voice of the child’ and the voice of the adult within their practice, record keeping and reports. 

Encourage practitioners to consider all individuals in the family/community they work with and reflect this within their practice, record keeping and reports. 

To escalate complex safeguarding cases with partner agencies where appropriate. 

To assist the Named Nurses to undertake Safeguarding Child Practice Reviews, Serious Violence Reviews, Safeguarding Adult Reviews, Domestic Homicide Reviews. LeDeR and any other reviews identified and identify and disseminate learning.

To support the Digital Platform from a safeguarding perspective.

To be available to support staff as required when dealing with the complexities of safeguarding.

To support staff dealing with the emotional trauma that safeguarding work can evoke and be able to recognise the potential personal impact of working in safeguarding on self and others and seek support and help when necessary. 

Support staff to ensure they have access to appropriate legal advice when required. 

Support practitioners in the development and/or analysis of case chronologies that support the analysis of risk and resilience in families and agree actions that drive forward safeguarding practice.

Support practitioners to produce high quality reports to present as evidence in courts to safeguard children and adults at risk.

Engage with the receipt of regular safeguarding supervision and undertake reflective practice. 

Act as an autonomous practitioner when advising and supporting decision making.

To work with staff to promote best practice, identify risk factors and initiate or escalate appropriate action to safeguard children and adults at risk.

To represent East of England NHS Trust at any multi-agency strategic groups as allocated by the Named Nurse, these could include Safeguarding Children Partnership or Safeguarding Adult’s Board meetings and workstreams. 

To contribute to collaborative interagency working and quality assurance frameworks for safeguarding.

To assist the Named Nurse to meet locality and Trust wide assurance by providing data in relation to, Statutory self-assessments, and other information as requested by the wider Trust or partner agencies. 

Support the locality Safeguarding Team to plan, develop, facilitate, and evaluate training packages within the organisation and as needed in partnership with other agencies where multi agency training is provided.

Lead and ensure completion of related Safeguarding Clinical Audit programme under the direction of the Named Nurse.

Support the organisation Lead for Prevent. Provide point of contact for advice and guidance on all matters relating to Prevent within your scope of accountability and skills.  

Support the organisation Lead for Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Provide point of contact for advice and guidance on all matters relating to MCA and DoLS within the scope of your accountability and skills.

Communication 

To support staff with the communication of complex and sensitive information effectively with children, adults at risk and their families.

Maintain good relationships with other professional leads and all members of staff, thus developing professionalism through the organisation.

Key relationships 
•    Service Directors
•    Chief Nurse
•    Assistant Director for Safeguarding
•    Head of Safeguarding.
•    Named Nurses/Deputy Named Nurses.
•    Safeguarding Team
•    Senior Leadership Locality Team
•    External agency leads for Safeguarding related work.

People Management

Deputise for the Named Nurse in ensuring effective processes are in place for day-to-day supervision.

Responsible for day-to-day management of team as allocated, including grievance, disciplinary, appraisal, appointing panel member at recruitment, reviewing work performance and progress, work allocation and checking.

Provide opportunities for staff to develop to allow them to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities.

Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal.

Deputise for the Named Nurse regarding LADO / PiPoT where appropriate.

Clinical and Practice Governance

To contribute to the design and implementation of the safeguarding strategy in conjunction with the Think Family Safeguarding Team promoting evidence-based practice in safeguarding within East of England NHS Trust.

Identify areas of improvement through quality assurance and audit, which will provide evidence to support the Clinical Governance Framework supported by the Named Nurse.

To participate in the design, implementation and delivery of the Trust’s safeguarding training strategy and the safeguarding audit programme.

Assist the Named Nurse to ensure that safeguarding systems, policies and procedures are regularly monitored, evaluated and developed.

To maintain records and support staff to maintain records as per professional bodies and Trust requirement. 

Observe and maintain strict confidentiality with regards to any patient/family/staff/records and information in line with the requirements of the GDPR.

To adhere to the Trust risk assessment and risk management processes.

To adhere to infection control policies and procedures.

It is a condition of your employment that you are currently registered with either the Nursing and Midwifery Council or Social Work England and it is your responsibility to maintain your professional registration.

Undertake mandatory training and any other training relevant to the role as required by East of England NHS Trust. 

Participate in supervision on a regular basis. 

To participate in relevant emergency preparedness process for their team.