When your child is in hospital the health provider has a duty of care to your child to keep them free from harm. This includes:

  • hospitals ensuring those working with children have a full Criminal Records Bureau disclosure before starting work
  • your hospital having a duty of care to your child concerning reporting, preventing and acting upon any incidents of abuse to your child (Outcome 7 Essential standards of quality and safety) (Care Quality Commission, London 2010).

Providers must minimise the risk and likelihood of abuse occurring by:

  • ensuring that staff and people who use services understand the aspects of the safeguarding processes that are relevant to them
  • ensuring that staff understand the signs of abuse and raise this with the right person when those signs are noticed
  • ensuring that people who use services are aware of how to raise concerns of abuse
  • having effective means to monitor and review incidents, concerns and complaints that have potential to become an abuse or safeguarding concern
  • having effective means of receiving and acting upon feedback from people who use services and any other person.

Providers must take immediate action to ensure that any abuse identified is stopped and suspected abuse is addressed by:

  • having clear procedures followed in practice, monitored and reviewed that take into account relevant legislation and guidance for the management of alleged abuse
  • separating the alleged abuser from the person who uses services and others who may be at risk, or managing the risk by removing the opportunity for abuse to occur, where this is within the control of the provider
  • reporting the alleged abuse to the appropriate authority
  • reviewing the person’s plan of care to ensure that they are properly supported following the alleged abuse incident
  • using information from safeguarding concerns to identify non-compliance, or any risk of non-compliance, with the regulations and to decide what will be done to return to compliance
  • working collaboratively with other services, teams, individuals and agencies in relation to all safeguarding matters and having safeguarding policies that link with local authority policies
  • participating in local safeguarding children boards where required to understand their responsibilities and the responsibilities of others in line with the Children Act 2004
  • having clear procedures followed in practice, monitored and reviewed about the use of restraint and safeguarding
  • taking into account relevant guidance set out in the Care Quality Commission’s Schedule of Applicable Publications
  • training and supervising staff in safeguarding to ensure they can demonstrate the competences listed in Outcome 7E of the Essential standards of quality and safety (Care Quality Commission, London 2010).