Safeguarding
Safeguarding is about protecting people's health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling everyone to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. For the children and adults using our services this means protecting them from maltreatment or things that are bad for their health and making sure that their wellbeing is promoted, taking their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs into account.
We are committed to ensuring that safeguarding our service users and their families is given the highest priority across the organisation. Find out more about what we do in the video below:
Our safeguarding strategic approach upholds the Trust values of:
- Integrity – We aim to ensure that our staff receive the right support at the right time to keep themselves, service users and their families safe. We make sure that our statutory responsibilities are met and that our staff know how to contact us and receive a response in a timely fashion.
- Caring – We treat all our staff and service users with respect and promote this ethos through our training delivery. We aim to put our service users at the centre of their safeguarding decision making, whether or not they have capacity. We look at the least restrictive interventions and listen to their views. We believe the voice of the child is key and promote a “think family” approach by supporting parents in their time of need and when they are at their most vulnerable.
- Simplicity – We work in conjunction with the Trust’s Director of Nursing, Professions and Quality who has responsibility for all aspects of safeguarding within the Trust and in close partnership with the safeguarding boards strategically. This is so we can learn from any serious incidents and strive for best practice across the city. We link operationally with our partner agencies to keep people safe and encourage our staff to also adopt multi-agency practice.
COVID-19 and supporting vulnerable individuals
The following videos have been produced by the Safeguarding team to provide guidance on how to support vulnerable children, vulnerable adults and those at risk of domestic violence during COVID-19.
Safeguarding vulnerable children, domestic violence and COVID-19
Safeguarding vulnerable adults during COVID-19
How you can help or raise concerns
Supporting people when concerns are raised about abuse or neglect can be very difficult and distressing for everyone involved. Deciding on what the right thing to do is can be stressful, particularly if the person you are concerned about is reluctant to accept support. If you are not sure what to do you can always seek advice from the following websites:
- Reporting an adult concern Leeds: https://leedssafeguardingadults.org.uk/contact-us
- Reporting an adult concern York: https://www.safeguardingadultsyork.org.uk/what-is-safeguarding/how-to-raise-a-safeguarding-concern/
- Reporting a child concern Leeds: https://www.leedsscp.org.uk/Concerned-about-a-child – Members of the public should call Children’s Social Work Services on 0113 222 4403 (available 9am – 5pm).
- Reporting a child concern York: https://www.saferchildrenyork.org.uk/concerned-about-a-child-or-young-person.htm
- Domestic abuse reporting Leeds: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/domesticviolence
- Domestic abuse reporting York: https://www.saferyorkpartnership.co.uk/our-priorities/domestic-abuse/
Emergencies
When there is imminent risk please call the police on 101 or 999 in serious emergency where you can request the involvement of the Police Safeguarding Team.
If you or someone you know require urgent help please visit our urgent help page.
The Leeds Early Help Approach
Find out more about the Leeds Early Help approach by downloading the Early Help Approach and Strategy 2020-2023 and Early Help Poster.
Page last updated: 22nd Jun 2020 3:14pm