Job overview

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust are committed to safeguarding and protecting children and young people from abuse.

The safeguarding team enables support and guidance to front line staff to ensure adults at risk, children and families are supported, risks identified and appropriate services referred into to enable working together at the earliest opportunity.

In line with statutory guidance the Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Young People will collaborate with the Head of Safeguarding, Named Doctor, internal and external partners in leading and promoting safe care, statutory compliance, safeguarding and child protection practice across the full spectrum of activity; from prevention and early help through to protecting children from harm; including incidents and rapid response to unexpected death in childhood.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Main duties of the job

• The Named Nurse will lead and develop safeguarding children activity within child and adolescent mental health services and wider mental health services to enable all staff to respond promptly and safely to safeguarding concerns, and foster effective working relationships in order to promote inter-disciplinary and multiagency collaboration. 
• This includes supporting operational services to recognise and respond to vulnerability associated with neurodiversity, and risk associated with waiting lists, delay and escalating mental health concerns as part of safe triage and mitigations for the best possible outcomes for children and families.
• The Named Nurse will be responsible for the implementation and provision of safeguarding training, supervision, and expert advice across the organization.
• The Named Nurse will ensure that KMMH has Safeguarding policies and procedures in place in line with legislation, national guidance and the guidance of the local safeguarding children boards.
• The Named Nurse will undertake audits to ensure quality and assurance of safeguarding children activity, including developing action plans to improve practice were necessary.
• The Named Nurse will contribute to the safeguarding wider agenda including safeguarding adult activity to support a ‘think family’ agenda whilst ensuring children’s welfare is paramount.

Working for our organisation

We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. Rated ‘Good’ by the CQC, we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.

Our vision is simple: We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It’s why we’re passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident.

Join us - if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's doing well together.