Named Doctor for Safeguarding
Job Description
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 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.
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