Keeping you safe

Safeguarding of children and adults at risk is everyone’s responsibility. The information in this section includes guides on what to do and NHS GM’s role in safeguarding children and adults.

NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (NHS GM ICB) – is a statutory organisation which brings together the local NHS and is responsible for the commissioning of healthcare services across the region.

We aim to be an inclusive organisation firmly placing families at the heart of commissioning and delivery of services. We work in partnership with children, young people, and adults at risk, parents / carers and colleagues in other agencies.

NHS GM’s role in safeguarding children and adults

• NHS GM ensures that all the services we commission maintain robust safeguarding arrangements and procedures to safeguard and ensure the safety of children, young people and adults at risk of abuse and neglect.
• Share an equal and joint statutory responsibility with the police and the local authorities to be active members of the Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships and Adult Safeguarding Boards. The Partnerships have a duty to make arrangements to work together, and with other partners locally, to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and adults in their area as part of the multi-agency approach to safeguarding.
• Ensuring that processes are in place that enable us to learn lessons from cases where adults and children die or are seriously harmed, and abuse and neglect was already known or suspected and promote continuous improvement.
• Ensuring that there are effective arrangements in place for information sharing on safeguarding.
• Secure designated safeguarding professionals as experts and strategic leaders for safeguarding adults, safeguarding children and safeguarding looked-after children.

If you are worried about an adult or child

If you have concerns about abuse, neglect or exploitation please do not ignore it.

If are worried that somebody is at immediate risk of harm, contact the emergency services by calling 101 or, in an emergency, 999.

If you have a hearing or speech impairment you can use the national telephone relay service – just dial 18001 before the number or 18000 in an emergency.

If you are concerned about an adult’s welfare or worried, they are at risk of harm or abuse, you can contact:

NHS GM ICB has place based safeguarding team covering each of the ten GM localities including: Designated Nurses and Professionals, Named GPs, Designated Doctors for Safeguarding Children, Looked After Children and Child Deaths. The NHS GM team is accountable to the NHS GM Chief Nurse, the Deputy Chief Nurse Quality and Transformation and the Associate Director of Safeguarding.

The team provide expert safeguarding advice throughout NHS GM and to local authorities, police, and wider health partners. The team fulfils their statutory responsibilities via representative at statutory partnerships including Safeguarding Adult Boards, Safeguarding Children Partnerships, Domestic Abuse Partnership Boards and Community Safety Partnerships across GM localities

Safeguarding boards and partnerships in Greater Manchester coordinate the work of all agencies to protect children and adults with care and support needs and work to ensure from abuse and neglect.

Alongside the police and local authorities, NHS GM is a statutory partner for safeguarding adults and children in the following Safeguarding Adults Boards and Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships:

Bolton

Manchester Safeguarding Boards (manchestersafeguardingpartnership.co.uk)

Manchester Safeguarding Boards (manchestersafeguardingpartnership.co.uk)

Trafford 

Safeguarding Adult Board: 

https://www.traffordsafeguardingpartnership.org.uk/Home.aspx

Safeguarding Children Partnership: 

https://www.traffordsafeguardingpartnership.org.uk/Home.aspx

Wigan

Safeguarding Adult Board:

Wigan Safeguarding Adults Board

Safeguarding Children Board: 

Wigan Safeguarding Childrens Board – Homepage (wiganlscb.com)

NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board Policy 

The Policy is currently being updated and will be added when finalised.

NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Modern Slavery Statement 

https://gmintegratedcare.org.uk/nhs-gm/modern-slavery-statement/

National Support

• National Domestic Abuse helpline– A free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day, all year round. Calls will not appear on an itemised bill or you can use their online chat service. Call 0808 2000 247
• The Men’s Advice line– This service is free and confidential, and any calls will not appear on an itemised bill. They also operate a webchat service for online support. Call 0808 8010327
• Galop National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse helpline– If you identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans* or non-binary and would prefer to speak to an LGBT+ service. Call 0800 999 5428
• Respectis an anonymous and confidential helpline for men and women who are harming their partners and families. Call 0808 8024040

Local support

Anybody who is experiencing domestic or sexual violence can find help, support and advice. There is also support for people who know someone who may be being abused. Victims of domestic and sexual violence in Greater Manchester are encouraged to come forward and seek support and help. Find out about your local services by ringing the help lines on this page or click here to find out more. (End the Fear, Greater Manchester Against Domestic Abuse).

Prevent

Prevent is part of the government counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST and aims to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

The objectives of Prevent are to:

• Tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism.
• Identify, safeguard and support those most at risk of radicalisation through early identification, intervention and support.
• Enable those who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate.

Prevent focuses on all forms of terrorism and the Prevent strategy centres on safeguarding individuals by providing support and re-direction to individuals at risk of, or in the process of, being groomed and/or radicalised into terrorist activity, before any crime is committed.

The Prevent duty requires all specified authorities to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to enable health staff to understand the risk of radicalisation how to seek appropriate advice and support.

For further support and advice, follow your local links:

• Bolton: Safeguarding Against Harmful Radicalisation – Bolton Council
• Bury: Prevent – Bury Council
• HMR: Rochdale Safeguarding Partnership Board – Prevent
• Manchester: Prevent – Making Manchester Safer
• Oldham: The Prevent duty and Channel | The Prevent duty and Channel | Oldham Council
• Salford: The Prevent Duty • Salford City Council
• Stockport: Prevent and Channel in Stockport – Stockport Council
• Tameside: Prevent (tameside.gov.uk)
• Trafford: Prevent (traffordsafeguardingpartnership.org.uk)
• Wigan: Prevent (wigan.gov.uk)

NHS GM is committed to ensuring that learning identified in Safeguarding Reviews for children and/or adults results in positive change in our services.  Our aim is to embed learning at all levels of our organisation.

Links to National reviews can be found above in the NHS GM Designated Safeguarding team section, along with links to all the Greater Manchester Safeguarding Partnerships and Boards, where the most recent local reviews can be found.

National Reviews:

• Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Recently published case reviews | NSPCC Learning

• Keeping children safe | NSPCC
• Get help for radicalisation concerns – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Modern slavery – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Child death review: statutory and operational guidance (England) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• The Lullaby Trust – Safer sleep for babies, Support for families
• Home | Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline (nationaldahelpline.org.uk)
• Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Greater Manchester Poverty Action – Greater Manchester Poverty Action (gmpovertyaction.org)
• Ann Craft Trust: Safeguarding Adults at Risk

Prevent concerns – Call 101

• Freephone Modern Slavery Helpline – 0800 0121 700 operates 24/7. This number provides support for those who may be victims of human trafficking.
• National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247