Safeguarding adults and children
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
Safeguarding adults
Safeguarding adults means providing additional support for those least able to protect themselves from harm or abuse. The Care Act (2014) describes adult safeguarding as protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect by protecting adults who:
- have needs for care and support
- are experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect, and
- as a result of those care and support needs, are unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of, abuse or neglect.
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is a member of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board. Further information is available on its website.
Adult safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. If you suspect that an adult with care and support needs is being abused or neglected, don’t wait for someone else to do something about it.
To raise concerns about an adult living in Stoke-on-Trent, call 0800 561 0015.
To raise concerns about an adult living in Staffordshire, call 0345 604 2719.
Safeguarding children
A child is defined as anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday.
The fact that a child who has reached 16 years of age and is living independently (or in further education, is a member of the armed forces, is in hospital or in custody in the secure estate for children and young people) does not change his or her status or entitlement to services or protection (Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018).
The word ‘child’ therefore includes ‘children and young people’ under the age of 18 years.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- protecting children from maltreatment
- preventing impairment of children’s health or development
- ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
(Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018).
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children who come into contact with our services, whether as patients, the children of patients, the children of relatives or other close contacts of patients.
Further information is available from the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board websites:
