Child and adult safeguarding campaign launched in Northamptonshire

Richard Lindsley, Named Nurse for Looked After Children

The county is hosting its first ever Safeguarding Week, which will culminate with a conference in Kettering on Thursday that will be attended by nearly 400 practitioners, including social workers, GPs and police.

The wider Northamptonshire Safeguarding Week campaign is being led by the NHS Nene and NHS Corby Clinical Commissioning Groups and has the backing of a number of organisations including Northamptonshire County Council, Northamptonshire Police and Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals.

There will be themed days running throughout the week, alongside a Twitter campaign - #safenorthants16.

Peter Boylan, director of nursing and quality at Nene CCG, said: “We are very excited to be organising the first ever Northamptonshire Safeguarding Week, the aim of which will be to raise the awareness of everyone involved in safeguarding work in Northamptonshire and to highlight what support services are available in the county.

“Most of all we hope the events being organised will increase knowledge about safeguarding issues which should in turn impact positively on behaviours and attitudes so the welfare and safety of more children, young people and adults at risk are promoted.”

Richard Lindsley, the Named Nurse for Looked After Children, said the mental and physical health of young people in care was regularly checked.

Historically, looked after children have also fallen behind their peers in school and Mr Lindsley said a ‘virtual school’, which includes extra-curricular help, had been sent up to help improve their academic performance.

Mr Lindsley said: “Looked after children have more health assessments than non-looked after children. We take a lead in making sure their education performance improves.

“Looked after children are more at risk of mental health problems and they are the most vulnerable people in society.

“We do not stop helping them when they are 16 as we appoint a personal assistant to help them until they are 21 or older if they are needed.”