CORNWALL AND THE ISLES OF SCILLY HEALTH CARE ORGANISATIONS
CHILD PROTECTION/SAFEGUARDING TRAINING STRATEGY
FOR ALL STAFF
Page
Introduction / 3
Purpose of training / 4
Underpinning training principles / 4
Trainers / 5
Competency levels 1-3 including initial -update requirements / 5-10
Application Process / 10
Hand-outs / 10
Cancellations / 10-11
Recording attendance / 11
Evaluation and effectiveness / 11-12
Board Level for Chief Executive Officers, Trust and Health Board Executive and non-executive directors/members, commissioningbody Directors / 15
Managers Guide for Personal Development Plans / IPR’s / 17-19
Training guidelines for safeguarding children and young people in general practice. / 20
Training passport / 21-22
References / 23
Cornwall Health Care Trusts Child Protection Training Strategy
Introduction
It is a legal requirement under the Children Act 2004 (Section 11) that all individuals who work in NHS organisations, both permanent staff and staff that are contracted or commissioned, should be trained and competent to be able to recognise when a child may require safeguarding and protection from child abuse, and to know what to do in response to a concern about the welfare of a child.
Children and young people described in this document are all those who have not yet reached their 19th birthday.
The Care Quality Commissioners (CQC) describe the standards that all healthcare organisations must meet. Core Standard (C2) of their standards document states,
‘Health care organisations protect children by following national child protection guidance within their own activities and in their dealings with other organisations.’
Working Together to Safeguard Children (HM Government, 2013) clearly outlines the responsibilities of individual agencies, as employers, to ensure all staff are competent and confident in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding children.
Commissioners have responsibility for ensuring that all service providers are meeting the safeguarding standards. This includes having systems in place to monitor against service standards, including access to high quality training for all staff.
Individual staff groups will require different competencies in order to fulfil their role. Indeed on occasions the required level may vary within a group because of this. Training needs analyses will identify these variations.
This training strategy aims to increase knowledge and skills of all staff at all levels. From equipping staff with knowledge and skills to deal with child protection at a basic level to ensuring that staff involved in child protection work on a regular basis develop a higher level of skill in order to maintain standards and continually improve outcomes for children and services.
In March 2104, the Royal Colleges and professional organisations published updated and revised guidance to the Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff - Intercollegiate Document. This was partly in recognition of the need for greater clarity about the training that should be received by different staff groups. In March 2012 the safeguarding children training directory was developed by the Department of Health in response to Lord Laming’s progress report 2009. These documents should be read in conjunction with each other.
The Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff - Intercollegiate Document 2014 provides a generic knowledge and skills framework to assist in the identification, planning and delivery of training and education needs across the range of employees in a healthcare organisation.
This document should continue to be used in conjunction with key statutory
and non-statutory guidance, and with competency frameworks and curricula relating to specific professional groups.
The Generic Competency Framework within the document recognises that staff groups will have different training needs depending upon their degree of contact with children and families, and their level of responsibility. Although it is acknowledged that in reality there is a continuous spectrum of competency, five levels of learning outcomes have been identified.
Individuals also have responsibility to identify their own training and development needs as part of their appraisal process. The appraisal process should be used by managers and employees to discuss the learning outcomes and subsequent embedding into practice of any child protection training that the employees has undertaken since their last appraisal, as well as expectations for training in the coming year.
The Purpose of Safeguarding Children Training
The purpose of training is to achieve better outcomes for children and young people by fostering:
- a shared understanding of the tasks, processes, principles, roles and responsibilities outlined in national guidance linked to local arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children;
- more effective and integrated services, at both the strategic and individual case level;
- improved communication and information sharing between professionals, including a common understanding of key terms, definitions and thresholds for action;
- sound child focused assessments and decision-making,
- learning from Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) and reviews of child deaths
Underpinning Training Principles
Acquiring knowledge, skills and expertise in safeguarding/child protection should be seen asa continuum. It is recognised that students and trainees will increase skill and competencethroughout their undergraduate programme and at post-graduate level as they progressthrough their professional careers.
Training needs to be flexible, encompassing different learning styles and opportunities
Those leading and providing multi-disciplinary and inter-agency training must demonstrate
knowledge of the context of health participants’ work, provide evidence to ensure the contentis approved and considered appropriate against the relevant level, who has qualifications and/or experience relevant to safeguarding/childprotection and delivery of education and training and should tailor training sessions to thespecific roles and needs of different professional groups at each level.
The effectiveness of training programmes and learning opportunities should be regularly
monitored. This can be done by evaluation forms, staff appraisals, e-learning tests (followingtraining and at regular intervals), and auditing implementation, as well as staff knowledge andunderstanding.
Staff should receive refresher training every three years as a minimum and training should be tailored to the roles of individuals. E-learning is appropriate to impart knowledge at level 1 and 2. E-learning can also be used at level 3 and above as preparation for reflective team-based learning, and contribute to appraisals and revalidation when linked to case studies and changes in practice.
Education and training passports will prevent the need to repeat learning where individuals areable to demonstrate up to date competence, knowledge and skills, except where individualshave been working outside of the area of practice or have had a career break and are unable to do so.
In addition to training programmes, named professionals should circulate written updatebriefings and literature as appropriate to all staff at least annually to include for example,
changesin legislation, changes in local policies and procedures, the risks associated with theinternet and online social networking or lessons from serious case reviews.
Health care organisations must ensure all staff are able to access safeguarding support andexpert advice.
Those working with children and young people and/or parents should take part in clinical
governance including holding regular case discussions, critical event analysis, audit, adherenceto national guidelines (NSF, NICE, SIGN), analysis of complaints and other patient feedback,and systems of safeguarding supervision and/or peer review.
Information about accredited training and education programmes (including links toeLearning)can be found at
The learning outcomes describe what an individual should know, understand, or be able to do as a resultof training and learning.
Trainers
‘In house’ multi-disciplinary training is provided by a group of health professionals with relevant safeguarding children/child protection knowledge and teaching experience which is regularly monitored and updated.
Multi-agency training is provided by an independent company (Reconstruct) commissioned by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Safeguarding Children Board.
Competency Levels – Staff Groups
Safeguarding competences are the set of abilities that enable staff to effectively safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of children and young people. They are a combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that are required for safe and effective practice.
The Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff Intercollegiate Document September 2014 identifies five levels of competence, and gives examples of staff groups that fall within each of these.
The levels are as follows:
•Level 1: All staff including non-clinical managers and staff working in health care settings
•Level 2: Minimum level required for non-clinical and clinical staff who have some degree of contact with children and young people and/or parents/carers
•Level 3: Clinical staff working with children, young people and/or their parents/carers andwho could potentially contribute to assessing, planning, intervening and evaluating the needs of a child or young person and parenting capacity where there are safeguarding/child protection concerns
•Level 4: Named professionals
•Level 5: Designated professionals
Plus Board level for Chief Executives Officers, Trust and Health Boards Executives and non-Executive directors/members, commissioning body Directors
General Practitioners see Appendix 2
If after consulting the intercollegiate document to ascertain which level of competency staff need to achieve there is still uncertainty, then staff should contact their training department who will provide more detailed information concerning compliance requirements.
The intercollegiate document can be located on the Child Protection intranet website under thetraining section at
Those requiring competences at Levels 2 to 3 should also possess the competences at each of the preceding levels. Once a level of competence is achieved for an individual role there is no need to repeat the previous levels acquired, merely to maintain evidence of competence at the required level. So Practitioners are required to update solely on their required level in accordance with their role and responsibilities within the time frequency indicated on training matrices
This document will address the training requirements of staff from level 1 to 3. Those staff requiring levels 4 and 5 (Specialist roles) should consult the intercollegiate document and discuss their individual training needs with their managers according to their roles and responsibilities.
All health staff: A mandatory session of at least 30 minutes duration should be included in the general staffinduction programme or within six weeks of taking up post within a new organisation. Thisshould provide key safeguarding/child protection information, including vulnerable groups,the different forms of child maltreatment, and appropriate action to take if there are concerns.
Level 1: All staff including non-clinical staff working in health care settings:
This includes, for example, Board level Executives and non-executives, lay members, receptionists, administrative, caterers, domestics, transport, porters, community pharmacist counter staff andmaintenance staff, including those non clinical staff working for independent contractors within the NHSsuch as GPs, optometrists, contact lens and dispensing opticians, dentists and pharmacists, as well asvolunteers across health care settings and service provision.
Learning outcomes
Essentially competence at this level is about individuals knowing what to look for which may indicate possible harm and knowing who to contact and seek advice from if they have concerns.
It comprises of:
•To be able to recognise potential indicators of child maltreatment – physical, emotional, sexualabuse, and neglect including radicalisation, child trafficking and FGM.
•To be able to understand the impact a parent/carers physical and mental health can have on Supervision is a process of professional support, peer support, peer review and learning, enabling staff to developcompetences, and to assume responsibility for their own practice. The purpose of clinical governance and supervisionwithin safeguarding practice is to strengthen the protection of children and young people by actively promoting a safestandard and excellence of practice and preventing further poor practiceSafeguarding Children and Young people: roles and competences for health care staffthe well-being of a child or young person, including the impact of domestic violence
•To be able to understand the importance of children’s rights in the safeguarding/childprotection context.
•To know what action to take if you have concerns, including to whom you should report yourconcerns and from whom to seek advice
•To be able to demonstrate an understanding of the risks associated with the internet andonline social networking.
•To be able to understand the basic knowledge of legislation (Children Acts 1989, 2004 and theSexual Offences Act 2003).
For competencies, knowledge, skills and attitudes and values see
Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competences for Healthcare Staff (Intercollegiate Document) March 2014.
All staff working within a health care setting must be able to demonstrate that they have attained Level 1 competencies. This includes staff working in both clinical and non-clinical areas employed by Health Care Trusts and independent contractors.
Competences should be reviewed annually as part of staff appraisal in conjunction with individual learning and development plan. For the manager’s guide to assessing competency see Appendix 1
Following learning and updates may be face to face or by e learning depending on the training programme within individual learning and development departments, however it is recommended that staff requiring only level 1 to meet their competency attend a face to face training.
Updates
To maintain competency staff should receive a minimum of 40 minutes safeguarding training annually or 2 hours every three years. This can be achieved by undertaking the above updating process or by evidence safeguarding children training gained externally using the training Passport see Appendix.(2)
If your role and responsibilities requires you to complete level 2 do not take the level 1 update but progress to Level 2 training
Level 2: All clinical staff who have any contact with children, young people and/or parents/carers:
This includes administrators for looked after children and safeguarding teams, health care students, clinicallaboratory staff, phlebotomists, pharmacists, ambulance staff, orthodontists, dentists, dental careprofessionals, audiologists, optometrists, contact lens and dispensing opticians, adult physicians,surgeons, anaesthetists, radiologists, nurses working in adult acute/community services (includingpractice nurses), allied health care practitioners and all other adult orientated secondary care health careprofessionals, including technicians.
Learning Outcomes
As outlined for Level 1 AND
•To be able to understand what constitutes child maltreatment and be able to identify any signsof child abuse or neglect.
•To be able to act as an effective advocate for the child or young person.
•To be able to demonstrate an understanding of the potential impact of a parent’s/carer’sphysical and mental health on the wellbeing of a child or young person in order to be able to identify a child or young person at risk.
•To be able to identify your professional role, responsibilities, and professional boundaries andthose of your colleagues in a multidisciplinary team and in multi-agency setting.
•To know how and when to refer to social care if you have identified a safeguarding/childprotection concern.
•To be able to document safeguarding/child protection concerns in a format that informs therelevant staff and agencies appropriately.
•To know how to maintain appropriate records including being able differentiate between factand opinion.
•To be able to identify the appropriate and relevant information and how to share it with otherteams.
•Practice will be informed by an understanding of key statutory and non-statutory guidanceand legislation including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Human Rights Act.
•To be aware of the risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in certain communities, be willing toask about FGM in the course of taking a routine history, know who to contact if a child makesa disclosure of impending or completed mutilation, be aware of the signs and symptoms andbe able to refer appropriately for further care and support.
•To be aware of the risk factors for radicalisation and will know who to contact regarding preventive action and supporting those vulnerable young persons who may be at risk of, orare being drawn into, terrorist related activity.
•To be able to identify and refer a child suspected of being a victim of trafficking and/or sexualexploitation.
Competences should be reviewed annually as part of staff appraisal in conjunction with individual learning and development plans. For the manager’s guide to assessing competency see Appendix 1
Initial training
Staff requiring level 2 competencies should attain this level within 3 months (new starter RCHT staff should achieve this as part of trust corporate induction or if not then within 12 weeks of completing corporate induction). Ideally this training should be delivered face to face initially.
Updates
To maintain competency staff should receive a minimum of 60 – 80 minutes safeguarding training annually or minimum of 3-4 hoursevery three years. This can be achieved by undertaking the above updating process or by evidence safeguarding children training gained externally using the training passport see Appendix.(2)
Training at level 2 will include the training required at level 1 and will negate the need to undertakerefresher training at level 1 in addition to level 2
Training, education and learning opportunities should include multi-disciplinary and scenario-baseddiscussion drawing on case studies and lessons from research and audit. This should be appropriateto the speciality and roles of participants, encompassing for example the importance of early help,domestic violence, vulnerable adults, learning disability, and communicating with children and youngpeople. Organisations should consider encompassing safeguarding learning within regular, multiagencyor vulnerable family meetings, clinical updating, clinical audit, reviews of critical incidents andsignificant unexpected events and peer discussions