safeguarding children case file audit · safeguarding children case file audit: | summary 3 of 22...

22
Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: Health Visitor and School Nurse records 2012 Jackie Wilkinson & Vicki Spencer Safeguarding Leads LPT Audit Period: January 2012– March 2012 Report Date: June 2012

Upload: phambao

Post on 24-Jul-2018

228 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: 

Health Visitor and School Nurse records ‐ 2012 

 

Jackie Wilkinson & Vicki Spencer Safeguarding Leads LPT 

Audit Period: January 2012– March 2012 Report Date: June 2012 

 

Page 2: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Contents  2 of 22 

Contents   Page  Page 

Contents ............................................................ 2 

Abbreviations  2 

Summary ........................................................... 3 

Background ....................................................... 4 

Aim .................................................................... 4 

Standards .......................................................... 4 

Method ............................................................. 4 

Sample & data source  4 

Data collection & analysis  4 

Findings ............................................................. 5 

Sample  5 

Referrals  5 

Post‐referral  5 

Multi‐agency working  6 

The child protection process  8 

Comments ......................................................... 9 

Key findings:  9 

Areas of good practice:  9 

Areas where practice could be improved:  10 

Recommendations .......................................... 10 

References ...................................................... 11 

Appendix 1  Audit tool ................................ 12 

Appendix 2  Results table ........................... 19 

Appendix 3  Distribution list ....................... 21 

Appendix 4  Action Plan .............................. 22 

 

Abbreviations 

LPT  Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust 

LSCB  Local Safeguarding Children Board 

S47  Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 

LCCHS  Leicester City Community Health Service 

LCRCHS  Leicestershire County and Rutland Community Health Service 

CAF  Common Assessment Framework 

TCS  Transforming Community Services 

 

Page 3: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Summary  3 of 22 

Summary 

Reason for audit 

Case file audit of HV and SN reports on children with safeguarding plans is undertaken on an 

annual  basis,  against  s11  Children  Act  2004  requirements,  LSCB  procedures  and  internal 

policies and protocols as an assurance check on standards. 

Objectives 

To  continually  improve  the quality of  safeguarding practice,  through a  cycle of audit action 

planning and review  

Methodology 

The  audit  was  conducted  on  a  sample  of  49  health  visitor  and  school  nurse  records,  on 

children with safeguarding plans, located on SystmOne. 

The children  included  in  the case‐file audit were  randomly selected  from  the 1,000 children 

living within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland with safeguarding plans.  The case‐files and 

details of the children’s records reviewed have been anonymised to protect identity. 

Key Findings  

Section  Average compliance 2011‐12 

Rating 

Pre‐referral  86%  Good practice

Post‐referral  85%  Good practice

Multi‐agency working  92%  Excellent practice

The child protection process  88%  Good practice

Improved outcomes for the child  90%  Excellent practice

Key Actions 

Management oversight of Safeguarding Supervision Arrangements for HV and SN staff needs 

to  be  strengthened.  The  named  nurse  team will  develop  an  agreed  Policy  for  Supervision 

across LPT following TCS and  implement this across services. Each staff member will have an 

allocated  supervisor  and  engagement  will  be monitored  by  the  Named  Nurse  Team.  Any 

exceptions will be reported to line managers. 

Staff will be reminded of the importance of recording ethnicity, language on children’s records 

– this will be monitored through the record standards audit.  

The  Trust  Lead  for  Safeguarding will  present  the  Audit  findings  at  both  Leicester  City  and 

Leicestershire County & Rutland LSCB effectiveness sub‐groups: 

a)  45% of case  files audited demonstrated a  strategy discussion  took place with health  staff 

following safeguarding referral – this needs to be raised with  local authorities as an area 

for improvement.  

b) 2 of the case‐files audited health staff had not been invited to the initial case conference.  

Areas of good Practice arising from the report and recommendations are communicated with 

staff. Including the importance of  face to face contact with children within health assessment 

processes – to hear the voice of the child  

Page 4: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Background  4 of 22 

Re‐audit Date (TBC) 

TBC 

Background 

This  audit was  conducted  in  the  context  of Working  Together  to  Safeguard  Children, HMO  2010 

which sets out the relevant statutory and non‐statutory guidance for all organisations.  The audit is 

led by safeguarding  leads working across LPT with support  from  the named professionals and  the 

audit team. 

Clinical audit  is an  important assurance process for health organisations to check the quality of the 

safeguarding records and that internal and multi‐agency procedures have been followed. 

Aim 

To continually improve the quality of safeguarding practice, through a cycle of audit action planning 

and review. 

Standards 

This audit checked compliance with s11 of Children Act 2004 and essential standards  registration, 

Care Quality Commission 2010. 

Method 

Sample & data source 

The  audit  was  conducted  on  a  sample  of  49  health  visitor  and  school  nurse  records  regarding 

children who had been referred under s47 arrangements because of safeguarding concerns. Health 

visiting and school nursing records are held on the SystmOne electronic patient record. 

The population consisted of approximately 1,000 children  living within Leicester, Leicestershire and 

Rutland who were  identified  as being under  s47  arrangements  (either by were  core  assessments 

were taking place or were children with safeguarding plans). The sample of 49 records were selected 

at random from this population. 

Data collection & analysis 

Case notes for the 49 samples were reviewed by the auditors, who are the trust Safeguarding Leads, 

against the LSCB case file audit tool for health agencies (Appendix 1, p. 12). 

This audit was originally scheduled as part of the LCCHS (City Community Health Services), but since 

the merger between  LCCHS,  LCRCH &  LPT  in April 2011, was broadened  to  include  the whole of 

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. 

The  case‐files  and  details  of  the  children’s  records  reviewed  have  been  anonymised  to  protect 

identity. 

Page 5: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Findings  5 of 22 

Findings 

Sample 

The sample  included 27 school nurse records and 21 health visitor records. 21 children  live within 

Leicester City, 23 Leicestershire County, 4 Rutland –supported by each of our 3 local authorities. 

Referrals 

10% of  the children  in  the case‐file  sample had a Common Assessment Framework  (CAF)  in place 

prior to safeguarding referral; demonstrating that agencies  identified families and children’s needs 

and had tried early family support, before then generating a s47 referral, at a point where concerns 

of significant harm to a child, see table (1).    

80%  (n=39)  of  safeguarding  children  referrals were  generated  by  public  or  agencies  other  than 

health  to  social  care,  health  professionals  generated  20%  safeguarding  referrals  on  the  case‐file 

audit sample selected, based on concerns of significant harm to a child. 

Post‐referral 

45% of health professionals contributed to an initial strategy meeting arising from the safeguarding 

referrals  made  on  these  children.  Strategy  meetings  or  discussions  are  initiated  by  the  local 

authorities  responsible  for  investigation of  the  referral;  the  figure of 45%  is  lower  than would be 

expected,  as  health  services  provide  universal  services  to  children  locally,  all  involved  agencies 

should be involved in strategy discussions. 

Once  a  referral was  communicated  to  health  professionals,  67%  of  these  children were  then  in 

receipt  of  continued  health  support;  27%  of  these  were  not  applicable  as  following  a  health 

assessment a number of school aged children may be assessed as having no unmet health needs and 

therefore the school nurses would not be active members of the core‐group, see Figure 1 and Table 

1. 

 Figure 1 – Post‐referral 

Page 6: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Findings  6 of 22 

 

 Case‐file audit   Yes  No  N/a  Blank 

Did the health professional contribute to any strategy meeting or discussion? 

45%  41%  12%  2% 

Was continued health support provided to the child and family following the safeguarding referral?  

67%  4%  27%  2% 

Table 1‐ Post referral 

67% of children within the sample had a safeguarding plan in place prior to the first case conference. 

These  plans  were  drawn  up  through  strategy  meetings.  25%  of  children  (n=12)  did  not  have 

safeguarding plan in place prior to first conference, but these meetings were  held within 10 working 

days of a safeguarding referral being made, adhering to LSCB procedures. 

55% (n=27) of the case files demonstrated that social care was updated from health professionals on 

relevant  new  information  on  the  child.  35%  (n=17)  there  was  no  new  relevant  information  to 

communicate  to  local  authority  key  workers;  this  provides  good  assurance  of  effective 

communication systems in place between health professionals and key workers, see Figure 2. 

Multi‐agency working 

 Figure 2 – Multi‐agency working 

67% of the cases had a safeguarding plan in place prior to first case conference, of these, all but one 

record demonstrated Specific, Measurable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) safeguarding action plans 

in place. This demonstrates  that supervision arrangements and safeguarding  training within LPT  is 

effectively supporting practitioners with health action plans. 

 

 

 

Page 7: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Findings  7 of 22 

  Yes  No  N/a  Blank

Prior to first case conference / Is there a safeguarding plan in place?  67%  25%  6%  2% 

Does the plan identify the actions needed to improve outcomes for the child / family, are they SMART? (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) 

63%  2%  31%  4% 

Is there evidence of appropriate information sharing within multi‐agency meetings? 

82%  4%  12%  2% 

Is there a Child Protection Plan within the record?  71%  8%  16%  4% 

Was the health professional invited to the Review Case Conference?  59%  6%  33%  2% 

Are review case conference reports/safeguarding plans evidenced within the record? 

57%  6%  35%  2% 

Table 2 ‐ Multi‐agency working 

84% of the case‐study sample records evidenced dates and outcomes  from multi‐agency meetings 

held to safeguard the child. In only one case‐file did the auditors find no evidence of this information 

sitting within  the  record,  the  child  had  recently  transferred  into  the  area with  an  existing  Child 

Protection Plan from an outside local authority. There is sometimes a delay in the transfer of paper 

records from outside areas, but the child’s safeguarding needs were flagged on our electronic child 

health records. 

82% of records demonstrated appropriate information sharing within multi‐agency meetings.  There 

were only two cases where this was not evident; one case the practitioner was invited to the initial 

case‐conference, the second case the initial case conference had not yet taken place, so information 

sharing had occurred during strategy discussion only. 

55% of records audited had initial child protection case conference records scanned onto the child’s 

records. In 18% of cases this was not applicable, because the  initial case conference had not taken 

place. For 22% of records the initial case conference record was not available; there can a period of 

delay between case conference and local authority sending out case conference report to staff, and 

this can be a period of up to two months. However these staff has recorded their attendance and 

outcomes  from  the  multi‐agency  meeting  within  the  child’s  SystmOne  records  to  support 

communication and information sharing, see Graph 3. 

 Figure 3 – Case conference report in the records 

Page 8: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Findings  8 of 22 

In 69% (n=34) cases the health professional attended and contributed to the initial case conference. 

For 24%  (n=10)  records  this was not applicable, either because  these cases were audited prior  to 

initial conference, or still subject to strategy discussions or child was in receipt of s17 family support. 

There were four records which did not evidence health visitor or school nurse attendance. Two case 

files audited  recorded  that  the health professional was not  invited; mother had a disability so  the 

most relevant professional was the adult neurology nurse who attended the conference in place of 

the  school  nurse.  The  other  case‐file  evidenced  that  the  conference  was  cancelled  due  to 

improvements within the family. 

59%  (n=28) of the records audited demonstrated that health professionals were  invited  to Review 

Case Conferences, these multi‐agency meetings were well attended by staff, with case conference 

reports  identified  in  the  case‐files. 37%  (n18)  records  this was not  applicable because  the  school 

nurses had identified no unmet health needs so they were not members of core groups or on‐going 

multi‐agency meetings. 

82%  (n=40)  case  files  audited  recorded  that  children  had  received  a  recent  health  assessment 

(previous 3 months) within the SystmOne record. 

The child protection process 

 Figure 4 – The child protection process 

67% (n=33) of the records audited demonstrated that the practitioner had supported the “voice of 

the child” within the safeguarding process.  16% (n=8) this was not applicable because these related 

to  pre‐birth  multi‐agency  work,  or  to  babies.  12%  (n=6)  of  records  the  child’s  voice  was  not 

supported within the safeguarding process, two records stated the practitioner had no opportunity 

to  see  the  child,  1  record  this  related  to  a  baby,  one  child with  disabilities  likely  to  affect  their 

communication. 

Health  care  services delivered  in  a  culturally  sensitive manner, 76% of  the  records demonstrated 

that there was evidence within the record of family needs being recorded or supported within the 

child’s records. The trust is striving to improve this. 

Page 9: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Comments  9 of 22 

59%  of  the  case‐files  audited  identified  that  health  professional’s  demonstrated  “respectful 

uncertainty”  in  their work supporting  the  family. Lord Laming  in  the  inquiry  into death of Victoria 

Climbié  identified  the  need  for  professionals  to  remain  vigilant  and  objectively  check  out  new 

information provided by parents when working with  family’s, he  termed  this phrase as  remaining 

“respectfully  uncertain”.  It  is  positive  that  this was  demonstrated  so  positively within  the  audit, 

because  it has been a feature of our safeguarding children’s training programmes for over 3 years. 

34.7 %  of  cases  audited  recorded  this  as  “not  applicable”  as  no  new  relevant  information was 

disclosed by families which then needed to be checked out with other agencies.  

Safeguarding  supervision  was  evidenced  within  76%  (n=37)  of  the  records  audited.  It  was  not 

applicable for 16% (n=8) as these cases had not yet reached timeframes for supervision to take place 

10 days post conference. There were 6% (n3) of records where supervision was not evidenced, one 

case the health visitor was represented at initial conference by a school nurse but then did not seek 

supervision  on  the  case  following  this,  one  because  of  sickness  absence  of  staff  and  was 

unavoidable. There needs  to be  improvements  in management oversight of  SN & HV  supervision 

arrangements by named nurses across the trust   

Comments This case file audit utilised the approved Leicestershire County LSCB audit tool for health to examine 

all  areas  of  the  safeguarding  process  for  children,  record  standards, with  lessons  from  national 

serious  case  reviews  for  practice  around  listening  to  the  voice  of  the  child  and  demonstrating 

respectful uncertainty when families present practitioners with new information.  

This  audit  has  positively  included  children  on  health  visiting  and  school  nursing  records  across 

Leicester,  Leicestershire  and  Rutland,  which  is  an  appropriate  development  following  the 

Transforming Community Services (TCS) changes and the new divisional arrangements.  

This  audit  was  conducted  six months  after  TCS  and  the merger  of  city  and  county  community 

services. It needs to be recognised that the health visitor and school nurse teams are still embedding 

SystmOne records, as the previous year has seen revisions of safeguarding templates and guidance 

in  relation  to  records.  There  are  capacity  issues  across  health  and  local  authority  agencies  in  a 

context  of  increased  Safeguarding  /  Child  Protection  activity  being  experienced  both  locally  and 

nationally.  These  include  delays  in  allocating  social workers,  delays  in  receiving  Child  Protection 

Conference Decisions and Recommendations, cancelled Core Groups.  

Key findings: 

There is a need to improve the timeliness of scanning and recording of child protection 

information on SystmOne  

There is a need to maintain and continue to improve timeliness and quality of supervision and 

ensure work to match health visitors, school nurses and other members of the children’s 

workforce to a child protection supervisor is a continuous process.  

Health Professionals are not routinely being included in Strategy Discussion in relation to 

Safeguarding Concerns with children – the case file audit identified that this was evidenced in 

only 45% of the sample across the area. This finding needs to be raised at both LSCB 

effectiveness sub‐groups.   

Areas of good practice:  

81.6% of records demonstrated appropriate information sharing within multi‐agency meetings.   

Page 10: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Recommendations  10 of 22 

83.7% of the case‐study sample records evidenced dates and outcomes from multi‐agency 

meetings held to safeguard the child 

79% case files demonstrated that the practitioner had supported the “voice of the child” within 

the safeguarding process, appropriately according to the stage of the child’s developmental 

needs and ability to communicate.   

90% of records audited demonstrated staff had applied “respectful uncertainty” in checking out 

information from families with safeguarding concerns, when this arose. .  

Examples of good practice in case‐files : children’s needs and improving outcomes SN 

represented at all multi‐agency meetings, good assessment and engagement of the child and 

parents, response with referral to CAMHs to support mental health needs.  

Example of HV engaging with family in ante‐natal period, attended safe discharge planning 

meetings prior to discharge.  Mother has learning disabilities, HV documented she supported 

communication with pictorial aids to support health messages around parenting.       

Areas where practice could be improved:  

24.5% of the records audited demonstrated that ethnicity was not recorded within a child’s 

records, this this should always be recorded to support care assessment and delivery.   

School Nurses should ensure they have a face to face to contact with the child and not rely solely 

on parents reporting children’s “health needs” when they move into the area and require a 

health assessment.      

Three practitioners had not accessed safeguarding supervision according to the agreed guidance 

/ protocols in place. Management oversight of supervision arrangements and systems need to 

be strengthened.   

2 case‐files identified health staff had not been invited to initial case‐conferences by the local 

authority for the child.   

 

Recommendations 1. Management oversight of Safeguarding Supervision Arrangements for HV and SN staff need to 

be strengthened.  The named nurse team will develop an agreed Policy for Supervision across 

LPT following TCS and implement this across services.  Each staff member will have an allocated 

supervisor and attendance will be monitored by the Named Nurse Team.  Any exceptions will be 

reported to line managers.  

2. Staff will be reminded of the importance of recording ethnicity, language on children’s records – 

this will be monitored through the record standards audit.  

3. The Trust Lead for Safeguarding will present the Audit findings at both LSCB effectiveness sub‐

groups: 

 45% of case files audited demonstrated a strategy discussion took place with health 

staff following safeguarding referral – this needs to be raised with local authorities 

as an area for improvement.  

2 of the case‐files audited health staff had not been invited to the initial case 

conference.  

Page 11: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  References  11 of 22 

4. Areas of good Practice arising from the report and recommendations are communicated with 

staff.  Including the importance of  face to face contact with children within health assessment 

processes – to hear the voice of the child  

 

References  

Children Act 1989 & 2004

DcSF (2008) Information sharing – pocket guide DcSF ( 2010) Working together to safeguard children; a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationdetail/page1/DCSF-00305-2010 Ofsted (2011) The voice of the child: learning lessons from serious case reviews

Page 12: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  References  12 of 22 

Appendix 1 Audit tool 

CASEFILEaudit–HealthRecords 1. All files should be audited on all area’s that are relevant to that file, but it is

expected that the following will apply:

General Information & Identifying Details The Child Protection Process Closure of the case Involvement of the family & line management

2. In addition, there is space to record quality issues on the right hand side. The

information contained in these boxes should be used as prompts and any additional information in relation to the quality of safeguarding interventions / recording should also be included.

3. Each box on the audit tool should be completed although if there is no

information to be included, auditors should mark this on the form and not leave empty boxes. Additionally, the N/A section on the scored boxes should be used minimally.

4. Each audit will be commissioned and scoped on an individual basis in order to

meet identified aims and learning outcomes. Ethnicity Codes:

Asian or Asian British Mixed A1 Indian M1 White & Black Caribbean A2 Pakistani M2 White & Black African A3 Bangladeshi M3 White & Asian A4 Other Asian Please Specify) M4 Other Mixed (Please Specify)

Black or Black British White B1 Black Caribbean W1 British B2 Black African W2 Irish B3 Other Black W3 Other White

Chinese or other Racial Group C1 Chinese C2 Other Ethnic Group G1 Gypsy / Roma T1 Traveller of Irish heritage U1 Unknown

Page 13: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  References  13 of 22 

General Information and Identifying Details

Name of auditor: Health Agency: Date of Audit: Looked After Child: yes/no Type of placement: Subject to child protection plan: yes/no Child’s Date of Birth: Gender: Ethnicity Code: Child Disability: Yes / No If yes / specify:

 

Page 14: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Audit tool  14 of 22 

The Safeguarding / Child Protection Process health records; consideration of the following information

Yes No N/A Quality Issues What evidence is there of work undertaken with the child and family before the referral in relation to early intervention? Were there any previous concerns raised or referrals made?

Pre referral: Was there a current Common Assessment Framework (CAF) prior to referral?

Was the assessment framework used?

Is the lead professional identified?

Is there a multi-agency action plan in the records?

Was the safeguarding referral discussed with parents / carers and child if age appropriate?

Was the referral discussed with the line manager or named nurse prior to referral?

Post- referral:

yes no n/a Quality issues Is there evidence of information sharing between the agencies throughout the Child Protection Process? Is there any evidence of any disagreements in relation to decision making through the process? What examples of safeguarding interventions and continued

Page 15: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Audit tool  15 of 22 

The Safeguarding / Child Protection Process health records; consideration of the following information

Yes No N/A Quality Issues What evidence is there of work undertaken with the child and family before the referral in relation to early intervention? Were there any previous concerns raised or referrals made?

support are there?

Did the health professional contribute to any strategy meeting or discussion?

Was the telephone referral to specialist services (formerly children’s social care in the child’s health record?

Was an intra-agency safeguarding referral form sent to specialist children services or CYPS within 24 hours?

Was continued health support provided to the child and family following the safeguarding referral?

Were Specialist Children’s Services (formally children’s social care) updated with any new information from the agency?

Page 16: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Audit tool  16 of 22 

The Safeguarding / Child Protection Process health records; consideration of the following information

Yes No N/A Quality Issues What evidence is there of work undertaken with the child and family before the referral in relation to early intervention? Were there any previous concerns raised or referrals made?

Multi Agency Working:

yes No n/a Quality Issues: Which agencies are involved in the child’s plan (including voluntary sector and adult services) and are these appropriate to the child’s needs? Are there any cross authority issues and how have these been dealt with?

Is there a safeguarding plan in place?

Does the plan identify the actions needed to improve outcomes for the child / family, are they SMART? (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely)

Are multi-agency meetings recorded?

Did the family attend and contribute to multi- agency meetings?

Was a discharge planning meeting held prior to child’s transfer from hospital / CAMHS inpatient care to community?

If yes, did the health professional contribute to the discharge planning meeting?

Is there evidence of appropriate information sharing within multi-agency meetings?

Page 17: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Audit tool  17 of 22 

The Safeguarding / Child Protection Process health records; consideration of the following information

Yes No N/A Quality Issues What evidence is there of work undertaken with the child and family before the referral in relation to early intervention? Were there any previous concerns raised or referrals made?

The Child Protection Process:

yes No n/a Quality Issues What is the agency involvement within the child protection process? Are they undertaking actions within the child protection plan and are fully involved within discussions with Social Care? Are any disagreements with decisions made at conferences recorded?

Is there a case conference report for Initial Child Protection Case Conference (ICPC) within the child’s records?

Did the health agency attend and contribute to the initial child protection conference?

Is there a Child Protection Plan within the record?

Is the health professional a member of the core-group?

Are they attending / or sending a report to core-group meetings?

Has information been shared with involved professionals?

Was the health professional invited to the Review Case Conference?

Did the health professional attend / or send a report to the Review Case Conference?

Are review case conference reports / safeguarding plans evidenced within the record?

Page 18: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Audit tool  18 of 22 

The Safeguarding / Child Protection Process health records; consideration of the following information

Yes No N/A Quality Issues What evidence is there of work undertaken with the child and family before the referral in relation to early intervention? Were there any previous concerns raised or referrals made?

Improved outcomes for the child

yes no n/a Quality Issues Practitioner’s should ensure that actions take account of children and young people’s views, recognise behaviour as a means of communication, understand and respond to behaviour indictors of abuse, sensitively balance children’s and young people’s views with safeguarding their welfare

Did we ascertain the child’s views within the safeguarding process?

Were healthcare services delivered in a culturally sensitive manner? (evidenced within the child’s record that language, religion & ethnicity are recorded)

Did the child or young person receive a health assessment to identify needs?

Were/ are the child’s or young person’s health care needs met?

Did safeguarding Supervision take place and was this recorded within the records?

 

Page 19: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Results table  19 of 22 

Appendix 2 Results table Pre‐referral  Compliance

Was there a current Common Assessment Framework (CAF) prior to referral?  11% 

Was the assessment framework used?  82% 

Is the lead professional identified?  100% 

Is there a multi‐agency action plan in the records?  68% 

Was the safeguarding referral discussed with parents / carers and child if age appropriate? 

30% 

Was the referral discussed with the line manager or named nurse prior to referral?  57% 

 

Post‐ referral:  Compliance

Did the health professional contribute to any strategy meeting or discussion?  51% 

Was the telephone referral to specialist services (formerly children’s social care in the child’s health record? 

100% * 

Was an intra‐agency safeguarding referral form sent to specialist children services or CYPS within 24 hours? 

100% * 

Was continued health support provided to the child and family following the safeguarding referral?  

92% 

Were Specialist Children’s Services (formally children’s social care) updated with any new information from the agency? 

84% 

* In the 3 cases where the referral was made by a member of LPT staff this was appropriate for one 

child. 

Multi Agency Working:  Compliance

Is there a safeguarding plan in place?  86% ** 

Does the plan identify the actions needed to improve outcomes for the child / family, are they SMART? (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) 

91% 

Are multi‐agency meetings recorded?  95% 

Did the family attend and contribute to multi‐ agency meetings?  83% 

Was a discharge planning meeting held prior to child’s transfer from hospital / CAMHS inpatient care to community? 

27% 

If yes, did the health professional contribute to the discharge planning meeting?  100% *** 

Is there evidence of appropriate information sharing within multi‐agency meetings?  93% ** In 32 out of 37 cases. 

*** In 3 out of 3 cases. 

The Child Protection Process:  Compliance

Is there a case conference report for Initial Child Protection Case Conference (ICPC) within the child’s records? 

68% 

Did the health agency attend and contribute to the initial child protection conference?  87% 

Is there a Child Protection Plan within the record?  85% 

Is the health professional a member of the core‐group?  89% 

Are they attending / or sending a report to core‐group meetings?  89% 

Has information been shared with involved professionals?  93% 

Was the health professional invited to the Review Case Conference?  88% 

Did the health professional attend / or send a report to the Review Case Conference?  87% 

Are review case conference reports / safeguarding plans evidenced within the record?  88% 

 

Page 20: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Results table  20 of 22 

Improved outcomes for the child   Compliance

Did the practitioner support the child’s voice within the safeguarding process?  80% 

Did we ascertain the child’s views within the safeguarding process?  88% 

Were healthcare services delivered in a culturally sensitive manner? (evidenced within the child’s  record that language, religion & ethnicity are recorded)  

91% 

Did the child or young person receive  a health assessment  to identify needs?  98% 

Were/ are the child’s or young person’s  health care needs met?   91% 

Did safeguarding Supervision take place and was this recorded within the records?  90% 

 Calculation of compliance: 

  Standards To help differentiate between excellent practice, good practice and practice which requires improvement, the following arbitrarily‐set standards and colour‐coding have been used: 90% ‐ 100%  Excellent practice 80% ‐ 89%  Good practice 79% and below  Practice requiring improvement  Grey coloured criteria indicate that the practice being measured is not totally within the remit of LPT. 

Page 21: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Distribution list  21 of 22 

Appendix 3 Distribution list Target audience  To (for action) 

name, designation Cc (for info) 

name, designation 

Clinical Audit & Effectiveness sub‐group members. For review and adoption of the report and action plan. 

Divisional Clinical Governance Lead To add to CASE agenda and to circulate to members. 

 

     

Page 22: Safeguarding Children Case File Audit · Safeguarding Children Case File Audit: | Summary 3 of 22 Summary Reason for audit Case file audit of HV and SN reports on

Safeguarding Children Case File Audit:  |  Appendices  |  Action Plan  22 of 22 

Appendix 4 Action Plan Objective  Level 

of Risk L|M|H 

Agreed Action  Level of Recommendation 

Individual, Team, Directorate, Organisation

Person 

responsible 

Action by 

date 

Resources 

required 

Action 

Status 

Management oversight 

of Safeguarding 

Supervision 

Arrangements for HV and 

SN staff need to be 

strengthened.   

 

L  The named nurse team will develop an agreed Policy for Supervision across LPT following TCS and implement this across services.  Each staff member will have an allocated supervisor and attendance will be monitored by the Named Nurse Team.  Any exceptions will be reported to line managers. 

FYPC  Vicki Spencer  

July  2012 

Supervision policy  

  

Data collection systems 

established   

Amber  

Improve the recording of ethnicity on children’s records  

L  Brief staff on required record standards  Embed within future record audit SN/ HV services   

Children’s Services  

Named Nurses    Katie Willetts  

July 2012   February 2013 

Staff briefing    

  The Trust Lead for Safeguarding will present the Audit findings at both Leicester City and Leicestershire County & Rutland LSCB effectiveness sub‐groups  

  L 

 Discuss the findings and actions arising from the audit,      

Strategy discussions   not consistently including health professionals  

Non‐ invites to case conferences.   Agree actions across agencies.  

 Organisational  

 Jackie Wilkinson  

 August  2012  

 Agenda item at both City & County LSCB effectiveness meeting