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Safeguarding children and young people

St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is fully committed to ensuring that all children and young people accessing acute and community services receive high quality care in a safe and secure environment. The Trust adheres to its statutory duties in line with Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 and the following safeguarding children arrangements are in place to support statutory duties:

• St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust meets the statutory requirements for safer recruitment with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). All staff employed by the Trust will have a DBS check prior to employment and those working with children undergo an enhanced level of assessment.
• The Trust has Safeguarding Policies and Procedures in place which are up to date, reviewed regularly and approved by the Trust’s Executive Lead for Safeguarding Children and Young People. All policies and procedures are accessible to staff via the Safeguarding Children page on the intranet.
• The Trust has a process to ensure children who are not brought to appointments are recognised and that decisions with regards to appropriate follow up are made taking into account the voice of the child and the impact on health and wellbeing.
• All staff members are required to undertake relevant safeguarding training; compliance is regularly reviewed via the training database and at the Trust Safeguarding Committee.. The Trust has a training strategy in place for the delivery of safeguarding training.
• The Trust is involved in both local Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships (Wandsworth and Merton) and is committed to interagency working and positively supports opportunities to work with other agencies.
• The Trust has a Trust wide Safeguarding meeting and governance structure in place which has overall leadership from the Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control, who is the Executive Safeguarding Lead. The Safeguarding Team structure is as follows:

• The Group Board takes accountability for Safeguarding Children and receives an annual report. The Safeguarding Committee (Children and Adults) reviews, scrutinises and oversees the Trust’s safeguarding arrangements. The Trust will continue to review the arrangements in place and update in line with changing guidance and policy developments.