Job summary
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board is seeking a Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Children in Care to provide strategic leadership, professional expertise and system-wide assurance across West Yorkshire. This is an exciting opportunity to join a highly motivated safeguarding team which includes a number of Designated Nurses safeguarding Children, Children Looked After and Care Leavers, Designated Nurse/Professionals for Safeguarding Adults, and Named GPs for Safeguarding. The post holder will provide line-management for the Deputy Designated Nurse and Named safeguarding GP, working closely with the Associate Director for Quality and Safeguarding and Deputy Director for Nursing and Quality, contributing to improving outcomes for children, young people and families across our diverse communities.

Main duties of the job
As a key senior clinical leader, you will work collaboratively with health providers, local authorities, safeguarding partnerships and NHS England colleagues to ensure that safeguarding arrangements are robust, effective and compliant with national legislation and guidance. The post holder will fulfil the statutory Designated Nurse role as described within Working Together to Safeguard Children and provide strategic leadership for children in care and care leavers across the system.

You will:

• Provide expert safeguarding leadership and strategic advice to commissioners, providers and partner agencies across West Yorkshire.
• Support the ICB in demonstrating that it is effectively discharging its statutory safeguarding responsibilities.
• Lead system-wide assurance, quality improvement and performance monitoring in relation to safeguarding children and children in care.
• Act as a senior health representative within safeguarding partnerships and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
• Provide strategic leadership for Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Child Death Review processes and Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews.

At NHS West Yorkshire ICB, safeguarding is central to our commitment to improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities. We are proud of our collaborative approach and our strong partnerships across West Yorkshire.

About us
Due to organisational change, staff who are employed by NHS West Yorkshire ICB who are not confirmed in a post/are in the redeployment pool will have access to posts on a preferential basis

Job responsibilities
Job Summary
The Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Looked After Children is responsible to the Associate Director of Quality and Safeguarding and accountable to the Deputy Director of Nursing and Quality for the West Yorkshire ICB. This post is a strategic clinical post that seeks safeguarding assurance across the system in West Yorkshire. This includes providing expert leadership, professional and strategic advice to health commissioners on all aspects of safeguarding children and looked after children accordance with national and local requirements arising from relevant legislation and guidance working, across the health economy.

Main Duties and Responsibilities
To fulfil the role of Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Looked After Children as outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2026) and Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children (DH, 2015)

Being responsible to the Associate Director of Quality and Safeguarding, seeking to ensure that the WYICB can demonstrate that it is discharging all its responsibilities for safeguarding children across the health economy.

Be responsible for the provision of highly technical specialist expert advice and support on all aspects of Safeguarding children and prevention of harm.

Provide expert leadership, professional and strategic advice to health commissioners on all aspects of Looked After Children in accordance with national and local requirements arising from relevant legislation and guidance working, across the health economy

Influence the strategic development and planning of safeguarding children and looked after children services by providing professional advice regarding safeguarding issues across the whole health economy

Take a supportive partnership approach to working with other organisations including health and social care providers to focus on delivering the needs of children, in their transition to adult services and looked after children leaving care.

Actively seek and set clear standards for service, including the setting of Key Performance Indicators and seeking assurance that the standards and Indicators are being met through a process of performance and quality monitoring. Work with the Designated Doctor and Safeguarding Team to support the setting of these for Childrens Safeguarding and Looked after Children.

Provision of high level multi-factorial reports with complex information (that includes cases of child abuse and neglect) that require detailed analysis,

Highlight, manage where required, and escalate any concerns, gaps or risks involving Looked After Children to WY ICB, the wider health economy (including providers of health care) and the wider partnership working.

Be able to interpret and present data to highlight issues and associated risks both for the ICB and for the wider local partnership. Be able to support decision making for safeguarding children, identifying areas that need to be addressed, both within the ICB and health and social care footprint. This includes the provision of an annual report to the ICB

Be an active member and source of health advice to the Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships and sub-groups engaging in all appropriate development work of the board.

Be a strategic lead for the health component for all Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews, and the work of Child Death Overview Process, engaging and attending strategic and panel meeting as relevant and appropriate.

Support the WYICB NHS system-wide internal report on all Safeguarding Children Serious Incidents (SIs), providing highly technical and specialist clinical safeguarding advice

Frequently exposed to traumatic and tragic circumstances (including child abuse and neglect) identified within Safeguarding Children Practice Reviews and Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews that require interpretation and identification of lessons to be learned.

Work with the ICB and Commissioning leads, ensure robust arrangements are put in place across all commissioned and provider services for an efficient and timely response to any inspection processes, particularly JTAI, CQC, Ofsted and SEND

Maintain own expert knowledge and keep up to date with all national and local requirements as a regular requirement of the job, this includes contribution to national and local research findings, new guidance and interpreting these locally into policy and procedure within the Safeguarding children arena.

Highlight, managing, and escalating any concerns, gaps or risks for the ICB, the wider health economy (including providers of health care) and the wider partnership working to safeguard children.

Develop, monitor, evaluate, and review a safeguarding training strategy. Monitor the effectiveness of training to ensure staff are competent at identifying children at risk, and at an early stage to contribute to safeguarding them from harm and enabling the provision of effective care for children and their families where abuse has occurred.

Commissioning responsibilities
Work with commissioners and providers to ensure that effective arrangements are in place to meet health service duties under the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 and any subsequent relevant legislation or statutory guidance.

Seek assurance that comprehensive and robust safeguarding arrangements and arrangements for looked after children are in place in all commissioned services. This includes that the needs of children and their families are considered in the commissioning, de-commissioning, or re-design of services by the ICB.

Provide specialist advice to ensure that the range of services commissioned by the ICB takes account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children

Communications & Relationship Skills
Using various communication methods, provide timely advice on highly complex situations, provide information or support to internal and external stakeholders around related function, adhering to policies, legislation, governance requirements and best practice guidance.

Required to present information to large groups of stakeholders, where appropriate, where there may be contention or negotiation required to successfully convey function related information.

Analytical & Judgmental Skills
Work autonomously with significant discretion to work to broad occupational policy.

Make judgements on a range of complex issues relating to the function, using own expertise and responsibility level.

Support their function to deliver against agreed metrics aligned, demonstrating improvement where appropriate.

Use own expertise and developed judgement to provide solutions to highly complex and sometimes conflicting matters

Working collaboratively with clients, providing advice, expertise and significant interpretation of subject area to meet relevant objectives

Provide complex professional advice and expertise dealing with contentious issues linked to function.

Present highly complex information about projects, initiatives, and services in a formal setting.

Produce timely function specific reports, papers and databases, using prolonged concentration and appropriate software packages when required.

Frequent and prolonged periods of concentration are required for up to 3 hours at a time for conducting Project Meetings, Planning and Meetings.

There is also a requirement for prolonged and detailed concentration for complex cases such as reviewing all information within Safeguarding Practice Reviews; Domestic Homicide Reviews and for reading analysing and interpreting often complex data and information.

Planning & Organisational Skills
Determine the strategic planning of the Department projects, identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.

Plan and deliver short-, medium- and long-term business plans, achieving quality outcomes.

Plan and co-ordinate the implementation of function specific strategies, theory, protocols and processes for the achievement of organisational objectives, which may have influence outside of their functional area.

Lead the planning, organisation and implementation of complex strategies and programmes of work in safeguarding function, interpreting national guidelines and applying these to your own area of work. These programmes may impact on the whole organisation.

Patient/Client Care
Provide leadership across the organisation to ensure a patient/client focused approach is embedded in all interactions with clients around Safeguarding and Looked After Children

Regular exposure to distressing information including cases of child abuse and neglect, emotional circumstances when communicating sensitive complex, difficult, and contentious information to a range of stakeholders, organisations and professionals about child abuse and neglect cases. Whilst this role is not directly involved with individuals or their families, is continuously exposed to traumatic and tragic circumstances for example for childrens safeguarding cases, that require sensitive handling and interpretation for local learning.

Policy and Service Development
Propose policy/service changes and plan implementation relevant to function to ensure continual improvements across the organisation.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Postgraduate degree in relevant subject at Masters level or equivalent and have significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area.
• Registered Nurse with current NMC Registration
• NMC Registration on Part 3 of the register as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN)

Skills & behaviours
Essential

• Ability to critically review articles and publications and utilise the evidence of best practice for patient care and/or policies
• Computer literate with an ability to use the required systems/Microsoft IT office packages.
• Has attention to detail, able to work accurately, identifying errors quickly and easily.
• Has a planned and organised approach with an ability to prioritise Their own workload to meet deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Able to exercise independent judgement where appropriate and problem solve.
• Able to think conceptually, recognising assumptions, interpreting and evaluating arguments and deducing inferences.

Experience
Essential

• Highly developed specialist knowledge of function, acquired through a combination of in-depth experience and post-graduate/post-registration study obtained through a masters, equivalent experience or significant formal training or research.
• Evidence of ongoing extensive professional development around Safeguarding and Looked After Children
• Significant prior experience of working within Safeguarding and Looked After Children function within the NHS
• Significant experience of leading and managing staff
• Experience of communicating and engaging effectively with external agencies/stakeholder
• Extensive experience of working in and expert knowledge relating to safeguarding and Looked After Children portfolios, include substantial involvement in child protection case management and dealing with complex child protection cases
• Experience of contributing to Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews

Additional Requirements
Essential

• Has a responsive, solution focused approach to addressing issues and barriers.
• Is open to change and possible alternatives to doing things differently
• Able to regulate behaviour even when challenged and is open and honest and acts with integrity
• Credible, trustworthy and able to inspire confidence in others
• Independently mobile to be able to work across several sites in West Yorkshire and travel to attend meetings/support joint working.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.