Safeguarding children

Declarations – our pledges to you

Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and takes its responsibility seriously.

All staff have a duty to uphold our values to be kind, safe and excellent in all they do – putting our patients first, providing safe and effective care, and to be aware of the special attention children and young people (under 18 years of age) should be given while in our care.

As chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals I have board level responsibility for safeguarding children. Our director of patient experience and public engagement, Brenda Hennessy, acts on my behalf to ensure that the board is satisfied that all measures are taken to safeguard children in our care.

Actions taken and measures in place are as follows:

reports are presented to the board of directors every six months on safeguarding children
audits are carried out regularly to check and convince us that our systems and processes are effective
clear procedures are in place in the emergency department (A&E) and staff receive regular update training on safeguarding children
CRB (criminal record bureau) checks are made on all new staff adhering to the NHS Employer guidelines and the Trust is compliant with safeguarding guidelines
training in safeguarding children is one of the components of the corporate induction programme for all new starters and is included in the annual mandatory refresher training which is being made available as e-learning
a review of other training arrangements is underway
a named nurse and named doctors have specific responsibility for safeguarding children across all parts of our hospitals - they are clear about their roles and are given sufficient time to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities

Dr Gareth J Goodier
Chief Executive

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