Amanda Clayton – ELC, June 2016 Safeguarding Manager, Forensic Services Division

NHCFT Think Family Strategy Nottinghamshire Healthcare believes that safeguarding is everybody’s business. The aim of the ‘Think Family’ strategy is to secure better outcomes for children, young people, adults and families by co-ordinating the support they receive. Staff are encouraged to think about the whole family, whoever they are working with. The cogs logo symbolises how decisions made at one point can impact in other areas of a patient’s life or that of their family. The strategy provides an umbrella to the Safeguarding Strategy and the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy.

What is family? The Trust recognises that family structures are dynamic and varied far beyond those defined by blood relationships or partners and beyond legal definitions. An individual’s family is unique to their diverse and individual needs, including class, culture, race, ethnicity, religion and sexuality. Whilst the nature of ‘Family’ will change, the importance of understanding how it impacts on the person is vital. Staff are encouraged to constantly review who is part of the family structure at any given time.

We are going to show a short film produced by Harrow LSCB which summarises the messages which occur time and time again within reviews. Some of you may have seen it before, but it is something which can be watched more than once.

Think Family Subgroup Representatives from across all divisions. Accountable to the Trustwide Strategic Safeguarding Group. Divided into workstreams: Policies and Procedures, Resources, Communications, Care Act, Roadshows, Lessons Learned, Evaluation and Impact and Integration.

Implementation Trustwide launch and 12 month embedding period. Multi-agency flag raising event at Trust headquarters. Features in the corporate ‘Positive’ magazine. Roadshows at venues across the Trust. Resource packs for staff, patients and their carers. Safeguarding matters briefings and posters, including learning from serious case reviews and current issues (e.g. self-neglect). Multi-Agency Think Family Conference

Opportunities To engage staff, patients, carers and volunteers in thinking about safeguarding. Raise the profile of the need to think holistically when working with patients. Raise the profile from the outset of the Care Act 2014 and safeguarding responsibilities. Sharing of information and practice Trustwide within the subgroup and with external multi-agency partners.

Challenges The Trust is diverse in the services it provides – making the strategy relevant to all has been a challenge. The strategy aims to provide a foundation which can be developed by teams and individuals. Staff are often specialists in their field and they need to understand their responsibility to think beyond their specialist area and beyond the particular person they are working with. The Trust is geographically spread and there is an ongoing challenge to ensure the strategy is disseminated, understood and embedded in all areas and shared with external partners, both locally and in other areas where the Trust operates, including Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

Impact evaluation Staff have been invited to complete a brief questionnaire when attending roadshows setting out their knowledge and confidence in using Think Family within their practice. A report evaluating the responses has been prepared. In September, a second questionnaire will be circulated asking them if their awareness and confidence has improved in relation to Think Family. Staff have been invited to make pledges as individuals or as part of a team relating to how they will implement Think Family in their practice and these pledges are being collated by the Think Family Subgroup. Findings will be reflected in the Safeguarding Annual Report for 2015/16.

How can you change a spanner to a cog in your service? Cogs and Spanners How can you change a spanner to a cog in your service?

Barriers Information sharing Confidentiality Time Understanding of cultural & diversity issues Systems MDT differences External agency responses