Shropshire’s two acute hospitals receive “outstanding” praise
Shropshire’s two acute hospitals have been praised for their “outstanding” procedures for helping to ensure children and young people are kept safe and protected from harm.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has described the safeguarding procedures in place for children and young people at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford as “outstanding.”
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which runs the two hospitals, places the highest priority on safeguarding children and young people.
The Trust’s commitment to safeguarding was recognised in the CQC’s report on the Trust and the two hospitals, which was published last week.
The report said: “The Trust had outstanding safeguarding procedures in place. The safeguarding team had links in every department where children were seen, with safeguarding information shared across the trust.
“Safeguarding was well organised, and staff were fully aware of their responsibilities.
“Staff we spoke with during the inspection were knowledgeable, and demonstrated underpinning knowledge of safeguarding both children and vulnerable adults.
Staff were fully aware of how to refer a safeguarding issue and had received training.
“The staff told us that the safeguarding lead nurse for the trust advised them whilst reporting incidents, and was very supportive.”
Teresa Tanner, Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Young People at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “We recognise that all children have a right to be protected and that all adults have a responsibility to protect them from harm. As a Trust, we place the highest priority on safeguarding children and young people.
“We’re delighted that our Safeguarding procedures have been highlighted as outstanding practice by the Care Quality Commission, which ensures that our staff and the communities we serve can be confident of our efforts to ensure the safety of children and young people.
“We are committed to ensuring that systems and services are in place that aim to promote the wellbeing of children and prevent them from suffering harm.”
Mrs Tanner said Safeguarding procedures at the Trust worked so well due to “excellent” partnership working in Shropshire, with organisations supporting each other to ensure the best possible protection for children and young people.
Other areas of good practice highlighted by the CQC included:
“The safeguarding team trained individual ward nurses to be safeguarding link nurses within their own clinical area. These link nurses acted as an additional resource for their colleagues, and were able to assist with training.”
“Procedures were in place to obtain the advice and support of a community paediatrician 24 hours a day, which was in line with best practice. When necessary, child protection medicals were held in dedicated clinics, and by staff who were specially-trained to perform them.”
