Safeguarding at St Christopher’s Hospice

St Christopher’s Hospice is committed to safeguarding the wellbeing, safety and rights of everyone who uses our services, as well as our staff, volunteers and visitors.

Safeguarding means protecting people from abuse, neglect or harm and ensuring they are treated with dignity, respect and compassion at all times.

Raising a safeguarding concern

If you have a safeguarding concern, our safeguarding team is here to help.

You can also contact Social Care in our five boroughs directly:

Our safeguarding commitment

We are committed to safeguarding the welfare of our patients, carers, families, staff, volunteers and supporters. We recognise our responsibility to promote safe practice and to protect people from harm.

We work to create a safe, inclusive and supportive environment that respects the rights, dignity and individuality of everyone in our care. We believe everyone has the right to live free from abuse and to receive care that promotes equality, respect and independence.

We listen to the views of those we care for and take them into account when making decisions about individual care and when developing or improving our services.Our safeguarding commitment

How we keep people safe

We ensure that:

• The welfare of people who use our services is always our highest priority
• People’s rights, wishes and feelings are respected and taken seriously
• We work closely with internal and external multidisciplinary teams to safeguard people, sharing information appropriately and in line with legislation, including the Mental Capacity Act
• All staff and volunteers work in the best interests of those we support and follow our safeguarding policies and procedures

Our safeguarding framework

We have robust safeguarding arrangements in place, including:

• Adult Safeguarding and Children’s Safeguarding policies, including responses to Modern Slavery, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and PREVENT
• Clear leadership and accountability for safeguarding at Trustee and Executive Team level
• Identified Safeguarding Lead and Safeguarding Champions across the organisation
• A Safeguarding Committee that meets regularly to support best practice and oversight
• Caldicott Guardians
• Freedom to speak up Champions
• Mandatory safeguarding training and regular refresher training for all staff and volunteers
• Additional training including PREVENT, Modern Slavery and Oliver McGowan Learning Disability and Autism training
• Safeguarding supervision and safer recruitment practices
• Strong links with local safeguarding boards and external agencies

Openness, governance and learning

The wellbeing of the people we support and of our staff and volunteers, is very important to us. We are committed to openness and transparency and take all concerns, complaints and risks seriously.

Clear governance processes are in place to identify, manage and respond to safeguarding concerns and risks. Where appropriate, concerns are escalated to senior leadership, the Board of Trustees and external agencies. We monitor themes and trends to support learning and continuous improvement.

Modern slavery and human trafficking

St Christopher’s Hospice is committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking and makes this statement in accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

We support national and international efforts to eliminate modern slavery and recognise our responsibility to address risks within our organisation and supply chains.

We are committed to providing a working environment that is free from discrimination, exploitation or oppression. We comply with all relevant employment legislation and promote fairness, dignity and respect in recruitment, employment and development.

All staff are expected to maintain a respectful and professional working environment. We also expect the organisations we work with to share our commitment and will not knowingly engage with suppliers involved in slavery or human trafficking. Our procurement and risk management processes are designed to identify and respond to concerns appropriately.