Safeguarding Children Practitioner
The closing date is 28 June 2026
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is committed to delivering high-quality, safe, and compassionate healthcare services. Safeguarding is central to the Trusts values and practice, and we actively promote a culture where safeguarding is everyones responsibility. We are committed to embedding a whole-family approach, recognising that the needs, risks and strengths of children, young people and adults are interconnected within family and community contexts.
The Trust provides the health safeguarding function within the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) across all four Local Authorities in the Trust footprint. There are exciting opportunities to join our team and work in fast-paced, dynamic multi‑agency environments. We are recruiting to two Safeguarding MASH posts, based within the Isle of Wight and Southampton MASH teams. Post holders will primarily work within these locations, with flexibility to support and contribute across all MASH areas, including cross‑cover arrangements, to ensure consistency, resilience, and effective service delivery.
Post holders are expected to work flexibly to provide cross‑cover across MASH sites to support service resilience, consistency, and equitable delivery of safeguarding provision.
Main duties of the job
The Safeguarding Children Practitioner will work within MASH as part of the Trusts safeguarding support team, contributing to the delivery of effective, timely, and proportionate safeguarding responses. The role involves:
* Providing specialist advice, guidance and support to Trust staff, MASH partners, and wider colleagues.
* Ensuring safeguarding concerns relating to children, young people, unborn babies and vulnerable adults are identified promptly and responded to appropriately.
* Gathering, analysing and interpreting complex health information from a range of health sources to identify risk factors, protective factors and safeguarding needs.
* Contributing to integrated risk assessment and decision‑making processes.
* Providing professional challenge in multi‑agency discussions to ensure that safeguarding decisions are robust, evidence‑based and focused on achieving the best possible outcomes.
The health function within MASH is primarily within IOW & Southampton, with flexibility to support all MASH areas across the Trust footprint.
About us
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined‑up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.
Our mental health services include community‑based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person’s care.
We deliver extensive physical health services, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute‑level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.
Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence.
Job responsibilities & expectations
Further information about the Trust and this role can be found in the Job Description and Person Specification documents attached. The Trust will accommodate flexible working requests as part of the interview process. The Trust seeks to ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone. If you have concerns that a person specification may prevent or restrict your application because of unintentional barriers on the grounds of sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability, please contact the Recruitment team.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Degree level qualification or equivalent.
* Evidence of recent study.
* Registered Health Visitor/Public Health Nurse.
* Safeguarding champion or lead in own speciality.
Experience
* Evidence of recent community health provider experience.
* Evidence of post‑qualification experience.
* Experience of working in a multi‑agency environment.
* Experience of working with client groups including complex needs and child protection.
* Experience of working in a constantly changing clinical environment.
* Experience or understanding of the Multi‑Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH).
* Ability to work as part of a multi‑agency team.
* Ability to contribute to chronologies and risk assessment.
* Support training across internal and multi‑agency arena.
* Able to work with all staff groups offering advice and support in relation to the MASH.
* Implementation of policy and procedures including those of the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership boards.
* Ability to give and receive positive challenge and open discussion about practice, cases and decision making.
* Ability to respond appropriately to sensitive and/or difficult situations.
* Ability to work closely as part of a highly skilled safeguarding adult and children team.
* Be able to work independently, be flexible, and adaptable at work to meet competing priorities and deadlines.
* Knowledge of government and local policy and guidance in relation to safeguarding children including current themes.
* Commitment to Continuous Professional Development, supervision, and mandatory training.
* Understanding of personal health and safety responsibilities.
* Good understanding of the meaning of clinical and safeguarding supervision/mentoring.
* Experience of delivering training.
* Understanding complex analysis of risk for children and young people.
* Contribute to planning, implementing, and evaluating health and multi‑agency audits.
* Identify potential training needs for staff.
Additional criteria
* Excellent communication skills (verbal and written) and IT literate.
* Problem solving and analytical skills.
* Demonstrate and disseminate evidence‑based practice.
* Understanding of equality within the workforce and how it can impact on this post.
* Adhere to the Trusts policy and culture of equality and diversity.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous convictions.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
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