Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical and Professional Responsibilities

• To provide specialist safeguarding guidance, knowledge, and advice regarding safeguarding children, young people, and unborn children and adults, supporting all staff to manage their safeguarding concerns/cases, ensuring that guidance given is robust, current, and clear, and that high quality evidence bases practices are utilised.
• Ensure that there are clear plans in place to manage the safeguarding of children, young people, and unborn children, including recognising safeguarding concerns, supporting in referral to other agencies where necessary and adequate discharge planning.
• Assist staff with their roles and responsibilities in responding to children, young people, and unborn babies deemed to be at risk of harm or potential harm by supporting, empowering, and promoting their own development, competence, and confidence.
• Work alongside staff to support in professional challenges where the analysis of safeguarding concerns has not been adequately addressed in line with trust policy.
• Ensure the rights of children are upheld and that their voices are heard.
• Maintain an overview of all cases and referrals where a safeguarding concern has been identified to the safeguarding team and promote the safety and well-being of those identified as being at risk.
• Promote clear and accurate documentation, facilitating maintaining comprehensive and contemporaneous records of care.
• Assist with the collection of data as required in serious case reviews and in compiling the chronology of such children and families as delegated by the Named Nurse.
• Identify to the Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children, any practice areas or systems that may put patients or the Trust at risk and contribute to the setting and monitoring of standards in line with the National Service framework for Children, Young People, unborn children and adults, assisting in ensuring the trust is working in line with requirements of NHS Improvement and CQC 
  Essential Standards of Quality and Safety Assurance Framework.
• Ensure personal practice is safe, within own scope of competence and in line with NMC regulations.

Managerial Responsibilities

• To act as a role model for all staff in promoting the safeguarding and wellbeing of children and young people. Uphold and demonstrate the Trust’s CARES values. 
• To deputise for the Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children as appropriate.
• To provide guidance and advice to staff involved in safeguarding children processes, to include attendance at case conferences, strategy meetings, professionals’ meetings and any interagency meetings as directed by the Named Nurse. 
• Be an active member of the Trust Safeguarding Children Committee 
• Assist with the compilation of the Trust’s Operational and Annual Safeguarding Reports.
• To support the effective use of resources.
• To contribute to the delivery of the quality and operational agenda of the Trust.

Education and Training

• Contribute to the design and delivery of a Trust-wide safeguarding children training based on training programme in accordance with legislation, national policies and guidance.
• Provide and record safeguarding supervision to staff working with children in line with Trust policy and national guidance.
• Ensure the dissemination of learning from safeguarding incidents and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews; oversee the progression of action plans to implement recommendations made.
• Take responsibility for maintaining own professional and clinical knowledge, competence. Maintain active registration status on the NMC register. 
• Ensure own Statutory and Mandatory Training is up to date. 
  Communication
• To facilitate, enhance and promote clear communication between individual professionals involved in cases by effective verbal and written communication methods.
•  To be able to communicate detailed health and welfare information to children, young people, families, and carers in a way they can understand.
• Communicate highly complex, personal, and sensitive information to colleagues across professional and organisational boundaries in line with the Data Protection Act.
• To maintain effective working relationships with colleagues at all levels.

Information Management

• Utilise recognised information management systems to collect, analyse and report safeguarding activity and data in order to identify trends, volume of work, priority issues and future planning.
  
•  Contribute to the development and reporting of Safeguarding Children performance indicators, both internally to the Trust and as required by external agencies.
• To be compliant with information governance policies and regulations

Research and Service Development

•  Contribute to the setting and monitoring of standards in relation to safeguarding children.
• Audit child protection processes against appropriate standards. Provide feedback and facilitate changes in practice.
• Use local and national data to inform and improve practice, such as lessons learned from Serious Case Reviews.
• Assist the Named Professionals in the development of policies and guidelines to support effective safeguarding of children.

GENERAL

• This job description may change as the post develops, but such changes will not take place without consultation between the post holder and his/her manager.
• The post is subject to annual performance review. Objectives will be set on annual basis between the post holder and the Lead Nurse Safeguarding Children (Named Nurse). Performance and progress against of a set objectives will be reviewed at regular intervals.