Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children
Job summary
The Named Nurse Safeguarding Children is a senior safeguarding leader responsible for providing expert advice, leadership, assurance, supervision and education to ensure the Trust meets its statutory responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.
The post holder will lead on safeguarding children across the organisation, supporting staff to recognise, assess and manage safeguarding risks, whilst providing professional challenge and strategic oversight where required Working as a key member of the Corporate Safeguarding Team, the post holder will work closely with operational services, executive leaders and multi-agency partners to improve outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and families.
They will provide specialist safeguarding expertise, contribute to governance and assurance frameworks, lead safeguarding supervision and training programmes, and ensure that learning from reviews, audits and incidents is embedded into practice across the Trust.
The post holder will act as a visible safeguarding leader, promoting a culture of safeguarding excellence, professional curiosity, partnership working and continuous improvement in line with national legislation, statutory guidance and NHS safeguarding requirements
Main duties of the job
Provide Trust-wide leadership, embedding children's safeguarding across clinical and corporate services. Offer expert advice and professional challenge on complex, sensitive and high-risk concerns, supporting staff to recognise, assess, escalate and manage safeguarding risks. Lead and manage the Safeguarding Children's Team, including management and safeguarding supervision.
Develop policies, procedures and supervision frameworks aligned with legislation, statutory guidance and multi-agency requirements. Lead and evaluate safeguarding training to ensure staff competence. Provide governance and assurance against CQC standards, NHS requirements, Section 11 duties and performance indicators; identify, record and escalate risks. Prepare reports for operational meetings, committees and the Trust Board.
Lead responses to safeguarding reviews, incidents and patient safety investigations, ensuring learning is embedded through audit, quality improvement and service development. Work with statutory and voluntary partners and support legal processes, including court statements, strategy meetings and child protection conferences.
Promote the voice of children and young people, involve parents and carers appropriately, and ensure lawful information handling in line with confidentiality, GDPR, Caldicott and information-sharing requirements.
About us
BTH is part of the Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Collaborative, therefore all roles will be required to support system wide working across the Lancashire & South Cumbria regions.
Job responsibilities
1. Leadership Act as the Trusts Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children, providing visible, expert leadership and promoting safeguarding as everyones responsibility. Provide professional challenge, strategic direction and highly specialist advice on complex, sensitive and high-risk safeguarding children and child protection matters.
Embed, monitor and assure robust safeguarding arrangements within clinical governance, risk and quality frameworks, including compliance with legislation, statutory guidance, CQC standards, ICB indicators, NHS England assurance requirements, Section 11 duties and contractual standards.
Lead, implement and evaluate a Trust-wide safeguarding supervision framework that supports sound decision-making, reflective practice, staff wellbeing and improved outcomes. Support practitioners preparing court or witness statements and multi-agency reports, and attending court, strategy meetings or conferences, ensuring lawful and secure information sharing.
Work with Named and Designated Professionals, service leads, local authorities and partner agencies to embed a holistic, trauma-informed Think Family approach. Lead the development, implementation, review and monitoring of safeguarding children policies, procedures and guidance across the Trust.
Analyse safeguarding data, risks, incidents and trends; communicate evidence-based options; escalate concerns; and support quality assurance, audit and improvement activity. Represent the Corporate Safeguarding Team at Trust-wide meetings and contribute to quarterly and annual reports through governance structures to Board level.
Line manage the Safeguarding Childrens Team and provide management and professional supervision to safeguarding practitioners.
Coordinate timely organisational responses and learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Safeguarding Adult Reviews, Domestic Homicide Reviews, Child Death Overview Panel outcomes and safeguarding-related Patient Safety Incident Investigations, in line with PSIRF. Promote effective partnership working with statutory and voluntary agencies and ensure appropriate Trust participation in safeguarding meetings and case conferences.
Champion the voice of children and young people and the engagement of parents and carers, while promoting equitable, culturally sensitive, non-discriminatory practice. Maintain professional knowledge through research, networks and supervision, uphold confidentiality, equality, professional standards and the relevant code of conduct.
Person Specification
Education &
Qualification · Essential
Current NMC Registration Degree in Nursing or related health discipline Postgraduate qualification in Safeguarding Children Evidence of continuous professional development relevant to safeguarding children
Desirable
Master's degree or working towards Master's level qualification Leadership or Management qualification Experience &
Knowledge · Essential
Significant post-registration experience working with children and families within acute, community or specialist safeguarding services Extensive safeguarding children experience at a senior level Experience of managing complex child protection concerns and providing expert advice Experience of multi-agency working with Children's Social Care, Police and Education Experience of chairing and contributing to safeguarding meetings Experience of delivering safeguarding supervision to healthcare staff Experience of developing and delivering safeguarding training programmes and disseminating learning from Statutory Safeguarding Reviews Comprehensive knowledge of safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance including: Children Act 1989 & 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children, Human Rights Act, Mental Capacity Act, Prevent, Domestic Abuse Act and relevant NHS England guidance Understanding of child protection processes, exploitation, serious youth violence, contextual safeguarding, trafficking and complex safeguarding presentations Understanding of NHS governance, quality assurance and risk management processes Detailed knowledge of intercollegiate safeguarding competencies and training requirements
Desirable
Knowledge of commissioning and safeguarding assurance processes Previous experience in a Named Nurse, Designated Nurse or safeguarding leadership role Experience of managing staff or professional leadership responsibilities Skills & Ability
Essential
Ability to provide highly specialist safeguarding advice and challenge across all levels of the organisation Ability to provide professional leadership and strategic direction for safeguarding children across the Trust Experience of leading service improvement initiatives and experience of safeguarding audits, quality reviews and service evaluations Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including influencing senior clinicians and managers Ability to support workforce development and professional supervision arrangements Ability to influence practice and drive organisational change Ability to analyse highly complex information and exercise professional judgement in situations of uncertainty Ability to write high-quality reports, policies and assurance papers and ability to interpret and present safeguarding performance data and assurance information Ability to present information to Boards, Committees and external agencies Facilitation and teaching skills Ability to manage competing priorities and work autonomously Strong IT and data analysis skills Self-motivated with a commitment to safeguarding excellence Demonstrates compassion, integrity and professionalism Commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and anti-oppressive practice
Desirable
Experience of presenting at conferences and regional networks Line management experience Experience of research, publication or contributing to regional/national safeguarding workstreams
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab) . From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab) .
