The trust works in partnership with health and social care agencies to prevent harm and protect our patients. We provide support to individuals and communities with additional needs, including those with learning disabilities or other vulnerabilities, ensuring everyone can access safe and effective care.
At South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), keeping people safe is at the heart of what we do.
We work closely with local health and social care teams to protect children, young people and adults who may be at risk of harm, abuse or neglect. We want every patient to feel safe and supported when they use our services.
Our Responsibilities
We follow national laws and guidance that help protect people, including:
These rules help make sure people are treated with dignity, respect and fairness.
Adults
Safeguarding adults’ procedures relate to the multi-agency response in respect of a person aged 18 years or over:
The Care Act is a large and far reaching piece of legislation and safeguarding changes form part of the new legal requirements. Several safeguarding changes have been brought about with the implementation of the Care Act (2014) which came into force on 1st April 2015
Children and Young People
Where the term child, children or young person is stated, this relates to a person who has not yet reached their 18th birthday.(Children Act 1989, 2004).
Our legislative responsibilities to safeguard children and young people, requires us to be vigilant and responsive, every time we engage with service users and families. Guidance is provided by the document; Working Together to Safeguard Children (DCSF, 2010), which defines safeguarding as:
“The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.”
What Safeguarding Means
Safeguarding includes:
Our staff are trained to recognise concerns and know how to respond.
If You’re Worried About Someone
Members of the public
If you are concerned about a child, young person or adult, please contact your local authority safeguarding team.
Your council can take concerns directly and will make sure the right support is arranged.
Local contact numbers for East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, Medway and Surrey are listed below. Please note that these numbers are subject to periodic local authority updates.
If you are unsure who your local authority is, you can find them at:
www.gov.uk/find-local-council
If You’re a Professional
If you work for a partner organisation and need to speak with our safeguarding team (for example, about information sharing or involvement in reviews), please contact us:
safeguarding@secamb.nhs.uk
We monitor this inbox during normal working hours.
How We Work
To help protect people, we:
Our Safeguarding Lead
Our Safeguarding Lead is:
Gareth Knowles
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Crawley HQ & EOC, Nexus House, 4 Gatwick Road, Crawley, RH10 9BG
Working Together
Safeguarding is a shared responsibility. We work with:
Together we aim to make sure people get the help and protection they need as quickly as possible.