Safeguarding adults and children means helping adults and children at risk to live free from abuse and neglect.
Adults at risk are people who are vulnerable because of their mental health, physical disability, age or illness. They may find it difficult to protect themselves from abuse because of their care and support needs.
Children may be at risk of neglect, physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
Section 11 of the Children Act 2004, The Care Act 2014 and the Mental Health Act (1983) places a duty on North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust as with all other NHS bodies to ensure that it makes arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults.
These duties/responsibilities are discharged through the Chief Executive Officer and the Trust board. Safeguarding is an integral part of the Clinical Governance framework with a clear line of accountability within the organisation.
The executive lead for safeguarding is the Executive Director of Nursing and Quality.
The Trust has an integrated Safeguarding Team as part of the Think Family approach which includes a Named Doctor and Named Nurse for safeguarding children and adults. The roles and responsibilities of the named professionals are clearly identified within the intercollegiate documents and their job descriptions.
In addition to this, all Trust employees have a duty to be alert to potential safeguarding concerns in children and adults and we work closely in partnership with other agencies to identify concerns and support families.
Lateral Checks
If you are a social care professional who requires information as part of lateral checks for safeguarding enquiries please use the form below to request information and send to nscht.lateralchecks@nhs.net