Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust

Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Young People

The closing date is 26 December 2025

Job summary

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust are committed to safeguarding and protecting children and young people from abuse.

The safeguarding team enables support and guidance to front line staff to ensure adults at risk, children and families are supported, risks identified and appropriate services referred into to enable working together at the earliest opportunity.

In line with statutory guidance the Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children and Young People will collaborate with the Head of Safeguarding, Named Doctor, internal and external partners in leading and promoting safe care, statutory compliance, safeguarding and child protection practice across the full spectrum of activity; from prevention and early help through to protecting children from harm; including incidents and rapid response to unexpected death in childhood.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Main duties of the job

  • The Named Nurse will lead and develop safeguarding children activity within child and adolescent mental health services and wider mental health services to enable all staff to respond promptly and safely to safeguarding concerns, and foster effective working relationships in order to promote inter-disciplinary and multiagency collaboration.
  • This includes supporting operational services to recognise and respond to vulnerability associated with neurodiversity, and risk associated with waiting lists, delay and escalating mental health concerns as part of safe triage and mitigations for the best possible outcomes for children and families.
  • The Named Nurse will be responsible for the implementation and provision of safeguarding training, supervision, and expert advice across the organization.
  • The Named Nurse will ensure that KMMH has Safeguarding policies and procedures in place in line with legislation, national guidance and the guidance of the local safeguarding children boards.
  • The Named Nurse will undertake audits to ensure quality and assurance of safeguarding children activity, including developing action plans to improve practice were necessary.
  • The Named Nurse will contribute to the safeguarding wider agenda including safeguarding adult activity to support a 'think family' agenda whilst ensuring children's welfare is paramount.

About us

We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway. Our teams support adults with a wide range of mental health needs. Because we cover the whole county and both hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the 1.8 million people of Kent and Medway. Rated 'Good' by the CQC, we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 in the community each year.

Our vision is simple: We are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. And everything we do is guided by our values caring, inclusive, curious and confident.

Join us - if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's doing well together.

Details

Date posted

12 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

380-SS0726

Job locations

Priority House Maidstone/Trust-Wide/Hybrid

Hermitage Lane

Maidstone

ME16 9NZ


Job description

Job responsibilities

The Named Nurse will support the development of the Trusts safeguarding agenda within Kent and Medway and areas covered by the organisation. The post-holder will have a significant role in both preventing abuse, and protecting children at risk from harm.

The post holder will be responding to enquiries from the whole work force employed or volunteering, and provide professional advice. The role will involve more than responding to safeguarding events; it will focus on prevention and developing a full range of strategies to keep people accessing KMMH safe and to inspire wider confidence in service quality.

Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification

We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Named Nurse will support the development of the Trusts safeguarding agenda within Kent and Medway and areas covered by the organisation. The post-holder will have a significant role in both preventing abuse, and protecting children at risk from harm.

The post holder will be responding to enquiries from the whole work force employed or volunteering, and provide professional advice. The role will involve more than responding to safeguarding events; it will focus on prevention and developing a full range of strategies to keep people accessing KMMH safe and to inspire wider confidence in service quality.

Please refer to the attached job description for the full details on the responsibilities and person specification

We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Nurse (RMN, RGN, RCN, RLD, RHV)
  • Degree
  • Post Grad Certificate/safeguarding cert/ or equivalent
  • Supervision Qualification/Certificate

Desirable

  • Masters Degree
  • Teaching Qualification

Experience

Essential

  • 5 years post registration experience
  • 3 year safeguarding experience

Desirable

  • mental health services safeguarding experience
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Nurse (RMN, RGN, RCN, RLD, RHV)
  • Degree
  • Post Grad Certificate/safeguarding cert/ or equivalent
  • Supervision Qualification/Certificate

Desirable

  • Masters Degree
  • Teaching Qualification

Experience

Essential

  • 5 years post registration experience
  • 3 year safeguarding experience

Desirable

  • mental health services safeguarding experience

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

Priority House Maidstone/Trust-Wide/Hybrid

Hermitage Lane

Maidstone

ME16 9NZ


Employer's website

https://www.kentmedwaymentalhealth.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust

Address

Priority House Maidstone/Trust-Wide/Hybrid

Hermitage Lane

Maidstone

ME16 9NZ


Employer's website

https://www.kentmedwaymentalhealth.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Head of Safeguarding

Alison Deakin or Team

KMMH.safeguarding@nhs.net

07717801505

Details

Date posted

12 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

380-SS0726

Job locations

Priority House Maidstone/Trust-Wide/Hybrid

Hermitage Lane

Maidstone

ME16 9NZ


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)