Supporting activities to explore

Suggested activities

• Shadow a safeguarding supervision session with a safeguarding doctor, nurse or midwife (with consent). 
• Read your Trust/Board supervision policy. 
• Access e-Learning for Healthcare’s Good example of supervision video (found in Safeguarding Adults: Level 3 virtual workshop resources).  
• Attend your local safeguarding partnership multi-agency training for managers. 
• Attend formal supervision training e.g. ask your Trust or ICB if they can support you to access training with other team members or individually e.g. with an external training provider. 
• Ensure you have your own safeguarding supervision and use learning from sessions. 

Examples from experience

• Use a template (see below) to guide discussions. 
• Shadow a colleague who is providing safeguarding supervision.
• Formal courses can provide additional tools and strategies specifically for safeguarding supervision. 
• Reflect on safeguarding supervision you have received and what was helpful or what was unhelpful. 

Signposting to resources

• RCPCH – Safeguarding supervision
• Example template for safeguarding contract
• Example template for recording safeguarding discussions

Peer review is the evaluation of work by colleagues in the same field in order to maintain or enhance the quality of the work or performance. It is a process to ensure that a child protection assessment and the medical opinion are as robust, accurate and evidence-based as possible.

Key resources

• Peer review in child protection

Mentoring in health is a professional relationship based on mutual trust where an experienced mentor shares knowledge and experience with a less experienced colleague to develop their knowledge, learning, work-based skills, well-being, personal and professional development. It is not to be confused with coaching, as mentoring focuses on the mentee’s development and growth, while coaching may involve resolving situations from the past or exploring personal issues.

Key resources

• RCPCH Mentoring support

A learning and development activity where an individual spends a period observing and learning from someone in a specific job or profession. It involves following and observing a professional during their workday to gain insights into their job duties, responsibilities, and the overall work environment.

Key resources

• NHS Work shadowing

In the context of healthcare, networks are defined as interconnected groups or systems that play various roles, including driving change across organizations and uniting individuals with common interests. They are essential for tackling systematic and complex problems faced by commissioners, providers, regulators, frontline staff, and service users. Networks contribute to healthcare improvement by providing a forum for experimentation, creating knowledge, exchanging information, and spreading good practice. They are not static and continuously grow and develop.