Safeguarding

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is committed to the wellbeing of all people using their services and takes the abuse of vulnerable adults and children very seriously; it is committed to dealing with this effectively. The Trust has a dedicated Children Protection Team and Adult Safeguarding Nurse who provide training, advice and support to all areas across the Trust.

The Trust works in partnership with the Local Authority to safeguard vulnerable adults and children. Buckinghamshire has its own Safeguarding Adult Board and Safeguarding Children’s Board made up of nominated Lead Officers from key organisations within the Local Authority. The role of the Safeguarding Boards is to maintain and develop inter-agency frameworks to safeguard adults and children and to co-ordinate what is done by each Board Lead representative to achieve this.

Whilst vulnerable children and vulnerable adults are the particular focus of the ‘Safeguarding Adults and Children’ policies and procedures, this does not negate the public duty of those carrying out this work to protect the human rights of all citizens, including those who are the subject of concern but are not covered by these procedures, or those who are not the subject of initial concern.

To view our Safeguarding Leadership team structure, click here.

Safeguarding Children
The Trust has a statutory duty under Section 11 of the Children’s Act 2004 to protect children from harm as part of the wider work of safeguarding and promoting their welfare.

This means working in partnership with other agencies to:

• Protect children from maltreatment
• Prevent impairment of children’s health or development
• Ensure children grow up in circumstances consistent with provision of safe and effective care
• Ensure processes are in place to learn from events

We aim to fulfil our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children by:

• Ensuring there is senior management commitment
• Having clear lines of accountability and structures
• Supporting a culture that enables safeguarding issues and promotion of children’s welfare to be addressed and ensuring that accurate records with regard to actions and decisions are made
• Ensuring staff receive adequate training to identify and protect people from abuse

The Trust works hard to ensure that all patients, children and adults are cared for in a safe, secure and caring environment.

Please click on the link to visit the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board.

To view the Trust's policy on safeguarding children, click here.
To view the Trust's policy on the sudden, unexpected death of a child, click here.

Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults
The Trust works hard to ensure that all patients are cared for in a safe, secure and caring environment. To achieve this for adults, we are working in partnership with other agencies. Strong partnerships are those whose work is based on an agreed policy and strategy with common definitions and a good understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities. These underpin partnership working in response to instances of abuse and neglect, wherever they occur.  “Abuse is a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights by any other person or persons”. ‘No Secrets’ (DH 2000).

As a Trust we promise to:

• Ensure the Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults policy has a clear statement of every person’s right to live a free from abuse and neglect
• Ensure processes are in place to prevent harm
• Ensure processes are in place for effectively responding where there is a high risk of harm or harm may have been experienced
• Ensure processes are in place to learn from events
• Ensure all adults can access information about how to gain safety from abuse and violence, including information about local ‘Safeguarding Adults’ procedures (Safeguardingadults@buckscc.gov.uk)

We aim to fulfil our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable adults by:

• Ensuring there is senior management commitment
• Having clear lines of accountability and structures
• Supporting a culture that enables safeguarding issues to be identified and addressed and ensuring that accurate records with regard to actions and decisions are made
• Ensuring staff receive adequate training to identify and protect people from abuse
• Monitoring, auditing and evaluating effectiveness of the safeguarding service

Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Vulnerable Adult Board is working to ensure consistency and robustness of approach.

To view the Trust's policy on safeguarding adults, click here.
To view Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Board policy on safeguarding adults, click here.
To view the Trust's policy on the Mental Capacity Act, click here.