Safeguarding

What you need to know

Safeguarding means supporting people to feel safe at home, protecting children, young people and adults at risk from abuse or neglect.

Harm can occur anywhere, not just at home. Therefore, the Trust is committed to protecting the safety and welfare of children and adults at risk of harm or abuse. It is their right to be kept safe from harm, abuse or neglect.

Why it is important

Everyone at the Trust has a responsibility for safeguarding. If you are worried about the safety or welfare of a child or adult at risk of harm or abuse, you can talk to the ward manager, senior sister or matron or use the following contact numbers to share your concerns:

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Safeguarding Teams

If you wish to speak to someone at the hospital about safeguarding, please contact:

• Adults team – contact via hospital switchboard 0113 2433144
• Children’s team – contact via hospital switchboard 0113 2433144

The teams are available from 8:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday

At all other times, please telephone the Clinical Site Manager via the hospital switchboard on 0113 2433144. 

Contacting Adult Social Care

If you are a member of the public and are concerned about an adult at risk of abuse, please call Adult Social Care on 0113 2224401 between 8.30am to 5:00pm or the Emergency Duty Team (out of hours): 0113 2409536.

Further information is available on the Leeds Safeguarding Adults website.

Safeguarding Children and Young People

The Children Act 1989 and 2004 makes it a legal duty for Leeds Teaching Hospital staff to protect all children under 18 including the unborn from the risk of significant harm. The Children and Midwifery Safeguarding Team and LTHT staff are guided by the following key principles of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018:

• Protecting children from all forms of abuse and neglect
• Preventing harm to children’s health and development
• Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
• Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes
• Providing early help support as soon as a problem begins at any point in a child’s life
• Safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility
• Children and families are best supported and protected when everybody works together.

The Trust has a Named Nurse, Named Midwife, Named Doctor and a team of Safeguarding Children Nurse Advisors who support and advise staff with concerns related to child protection, safeguarding and Early Help support for families.

If you are a member of the public and are concerned that a child or young person under 18 is at risk of abuse or neglect, please report this immediately to Children Social Work Services on: 0113 2224403 between 9am to 5pm.

Further information is available on the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website:  LSCP – Concerned about a Child)

Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults

The Trust has a Named Professional, Nurse Specialists and Nurse Advisors for Safeguarding Adults at Risk.

Abuse may consist of single or repeated actions and may include:

• Discrimination
• Domestic Abuse
• Emotional/Psychological
• Financial
• Modern Slavery
• Neglect
• Organisational
• Physical
• Self-neglect
• Sexual

If you are over 18 years of age and have care and support needs – for example you are frail, have a learning or physical disability or long-term illness, a mental health condition or substance dependency, and feel you are being abused or are at risk of abuse from another person, you can seek help to stay safe.

There are now three routine questions that are part of every clinician’s assessment and is part of the Nursing Specialist Assessment for every patient who attends the Trust.

These are:

1. Do you feel safe at home?
2. Is anyone hurting, controlling or making you feel scared at home?
3. Do you want help?

SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability)

If your child has a health or developmental condition that is impacting on their everyday life, this is often referred to as an additional need. This may have been present from birth or these may have become more obvious as your child has grown up.

Your child’s additional needs could be developmental, physical, learning, behavioural or sensory. Their needs might be easily met with a regular plan of care or a creative approach to their management. Some additional needs may continue throughout life and as a family there will be times you may require support from a number of services.

All children should have access to the right services, at the right time, to make sure they can reach their full potential. We work together with other agencies to ensure that the right professionals are involved at the right time to meet the needs of you and your child.

As an NHS organisation we have a duty to notify the Local Authority if we become aware a child or young person may have a special educational need.

The SEND Code of Practice 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 gives guidance to health and social care, education and local authorities to make sure that children and young people with SEND are properly supported.

If you or a child that you care for needs extra health and education support, an application can be made for an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC) to your local council.

Health organisations have responsibilities to work in partnership with education settings and local authorities, to support children and young people 0-25 years who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

To better support children and young people with SEND, their parents, carers and families, all local authorities have developed a Local Offer. The Local Offer brings together useful information across education, health and social care. It details information, advice and guidance and a range of local service providers who support children and young people with SEND, including our services provided by our Trust.

To find out more about our Local Offer in Leeds, visit the Leeds SEND Local Offer website.