Named Professional for Safeguarding Children and Young People

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to work within the highly visible Safeguarding and Vulnerabilities Team at Kings College NHS Trust. The
Safeguarding Children's team is led by our Associate Director of Nursing for Safeguarding Children, Maternity and Paediatric Learning Disabilities. 

We are a visible across the Trust service and we are looking for a similar minded leader to join our on site dynamic team. We are looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated lead to embrace the challenges of this role and continue the amazing work that has been achieved by the team .

You would need to be an experienced health professional with significant safeguarding children's experience. You must also be able to demonstrate knowledge in applying this experience to practice in an acute hospital setting.

If you can work as an autonomous safe practitioner, have excellent communication skills and have a keen desire to improve the outcomes for
vulnerable children and their families then this may be the post for you.

Interview date: 17th June 2025

Main duties of the job

• To take the professional lead and undertake the role of the Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children for the Trust in accordance with national, local and Trust policies and procedures.
• To work in collaboration with the wider Vulnerabilities and safeguarding team - the Named professionals (Named Nurse, Named Midwives, Doctors and Associate Director of Nursing), Director of Vulnerabilities and the area Designated Nurses and Designated Doctors, and local Named Nurse network in promoting high standards of professional practice within the Trust in safeguarding children.
• To advise and co-ordinate policy development and implementation, identify and facilitate Child Protection training needs for the Trust in accordance with the local agreed Child Protection Strategy and service objectives.
• To act as a resource of specialist knowledge and expertise providing supervision and support to multi-professional staff in relation to all Child Protection issues
• To provide professional and strategic leadership for the Trust in Child Protection.
• To monitor, audit and evaluate multi-disciplinary child protection practice.

Full duties included in the full attached Job Description

Working for our organisation

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 13,500 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Be a source of expert advice to all health professionals, managers and staff who deal with child protection and promote collaborative working internally and across agencies ensuring that all staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities.
• Take a lead role in partnership with the other Named Professional for Children, the Named Doctors for policy development, implementation and practices within the Trust and raise awareness across all staff groups within the Trust.
• Work with named professionals within the safeguarding partnerships in order that clear lines of communication are established between hospitals, local authorities and associated agencies, thereby facilitating robust partnership working.
• Ensure a Governance Framework for the development, implementation and evaluation of standards of practice for safeguarding children is in place.
• To be an active and core member of the Trust Vulnerabilities Committee and highly visible on site lead.
• Support in external serious case reviews and conduct child protection internal case reviews, where indicated, ensuring recommendations are incorporated into changes in practice in line with Trust risk management strategy. 
• Assist with the collection of data as required in serious case reviews and developing the chronology of such children and families (unless directly involved with the case, when it should be the responsibility of someone else.)
• Advise on the implementation and recommendations from serious case reviews.
• Ensure that there are clear plans in place to manage the safeguarding of children, focussing particularly on recognising Child Protection issues, referral to other agencies where necessary and adequate discharge planning where child abuse is suspected.
• In identified cases of child abuse, in conjunction with the ward nurse and other professionals, facilitate the planning and co-ordination of all aspects of care that will ensure the child’s safety.
• Working with the Senior Nursing teams in Emergency departments to ensure there are adequate and safe working practices within the Department to identify all children who attend who may be at risk of or suffering from deliberate harm.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered Nurse RN child or Registered Midwife
• First level degree or equivalent experience
• Holds or working towards Masters’ degree or equivalent experience

Desirable criteria

• MSC in Child Protection or working towards

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive post registration experience within safeguarding children service
• Relevant experience of working in the child protection field
• Knowledge of the current Government guidelines relating to Child Protection work and its implications for practice.

Desirable criteria

• Clinical Supervisor in Child Protection

Skills and Competencies

Essential criteria

• An understanding of the implications of the Children Act 1989 & 2004 in relation to Child Protection work.
• Awareness of the effects of culture and family dynamics on parenting and child rearing practices, and of the implication of these for Child Protection work.
• An understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other statutory and voluntary agencies in Child Protection.

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of local authority policy and practice

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

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