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The Safeguarding Services team supports our staff to care for patients who are at risk, and to help them fulfil their responsibilities if abuse or harm is suspected, identified or disclosed.
Safeguarding Services are based at Royal Cornwall Hospital and encompass the following teams.
Integrated Admiral Nurse Service
Admiral Nurse will support carers and families of a person with dementia when they are admitted to Royal Cornwall Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital or West Cornwall Hospital
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Admiral Nurse policies.
Contact information
The Admiral Nurse can be contacted via switchboard.
Supported Ahead Programme (SAP)
The Supporting Ahead Programme (SAP) has been developed to support carers and family members of people with a dementia diagnosis during their stay in an acute setting.
The SAP sessions are held four times a year. If you would like to have details of when our next sessions are, please contact 07823 535934 to speak to the Admiral Nurse.
Caring for carers
Adult Safeguarding
We work as part of a multi-agency team to safeguard people who are at risk and meet our legal obligations as set in legislation such as the Care Act 2014. Abuse is a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights by an act, or a failure to act, on the part of another person or persons.
Categories of abuse:
- Discrimination
- Domestic Abuse
- Financial abuse
- Modern Slavery
- Neglect
- Organisational abuse
- Physical Abuse
- Psychological abuse
- Self-Neglect
- Sexual abuse
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Adult Safeguarding policies.
How do I report adult safeguarding concerns?
Caring for carers
Please click here to view our ‘Caring for carers’ page.
Contact Information
The hospital’s Adult Safeguarding team can be contacted via switchboard.
Homeless Hospital Discharge Service
If there is a patient who is homeless or cannot return to their previous home, the Homeless Patient Advisors can offer advice and assistance. They can liaise with community services, housing providers and the patient’s family or landlord, to help them return home or find alternative accommodation. The Advisors support homeless patients who are struggling to remain in hospital and are at risk of discharging themselves against medical advice. It can be difficult for someone who has an entrenched homeless lifestyle to engage with professionals in a way that is conducive to the hospital environment. We will support those patients and try to reduce any stressful factors.
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Homeless Patient Advisor policies.
Contact Information
The hospital’s Homeless Patient Advisors can be contacted via switchboard.
Inclusion Matters Hospital Discharge Service
The Inclusion Matters Hospital Discharge Service can support you with your practical and social needs to prepare for a hospital admission or post hospital discharge. This service aims to reach individuals that are socially isolated who have little support from family and friends. Our friendly Hospital Discharge Inclusion Officer can act as a helpful point of contact providing useful advice, guidance and support to promote a good recovery.
We can help with the following:
- Identify safety concerns in the home
- Provide information to keep your home warm
- Collect your shopping or prescriptions
- Support with transport options
- Signpost to community services and activities
- Signpost to information and advice on finances, including welfare entitlements
- Arranging for someone to call round for a chat
Contact information
Self-referrals can be made by contacting the Inclusion Matters Hospital Discharge Service direct on:
- Mobile: 07590362024 (Monday to Friday 9am to 3pm).
Inclusion Matters
This service is part of the Inclusion Matters service. Inclusion Matters can help you further after discharge if you would like to find out more about social activities in your area or health related groups to help you stay healthy and active, and reduce the likelihood of re-admission. Please phone our helpline on 01872 266383 or search Cornwall Link for more information.
Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence
This service:
- Provides immediate support and advice to victims of domestic abuse that present in the hospital, with priority given to patients that are at high risk of serious injury or death
- Links these individuals and families to longer-term community support, and signposts to therapy and recovery services
- Provide hospital staff with training and knowledge so they have the confidence to routinely ask their patients about domestic abuse
Policies and Guidelines
- Please click here to view the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Policy.
- Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Clinical Guideline for Maternity Staff
Resources
- Safer Futures Helpline response team for Domestic Abuse:
The helpline is a gateway to specialist programmes and provides a single point of contact for services, users and referring professionals. The team are trained to take domestic abuse and sexual violence enquiries and quickly assess the risks and support needs presented by clients. They carry out risk assessments and prepare support safety plans for each eligible victim. The team signpost people who are not eligible for the service to other agencies for support.
Contact Information
The hospital’s IDVA can be contacted via switchboard.
Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)
Independent Advocacy is provided by The Advocacy People.
When someone is admitted to hospital they can be detained under the Mental Health Act. This can be very distressing, and sometimes people who are being detained feel powerless and unable to ask questions or get information. Independent advocacy can help; the support of a trained advocate can help someone understand:
- Why they have been detained
- Their rights under the Mental Health Act
- Ensure their views and wishes are taken into account by professional staff involved in their care and treatment
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) policies.
Contact Information
- Tel: 0330 440 9000
- Email: info@theadvocacypeople.org.uk
- Fax: 01424 204687
- Text: send the keyword SEAP to 80800, followed by your message
- Web: https://www.theadvocacypeople.org.uk/
Learning Disabilities and Autism, Acute Liaison
Contact Information and availability
- Telephone: 01872 255741 or 07765 221848 (8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. 9am to 4pm, Saturday and Sunday)
- Jane Rees, Team Manager: 07584 770351
- Adrian Quest, Acute Liaison Nurse: 07827 897252
- Email: rch-tr.LearningDisabilities@nhs.net
We are available at:
Please note: attendance at St Michael’s and West Cornwall will need to be arranged prior to appointments as we are based in Truro.
Support
By supporting individuals with learning disabilities, we can make sure they get high quality services in hospital, and real choice and control over their care.
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Learning Disabilities and Autism, Acute Liaison policies.
Going to Hospital booklets
- Children: Going to Hospital (RCHT1799)
- Adults: Going to Hospital (RCHT2028)
These are accessible publications for patients with a learning disability or autism. These aim to help people with additional needs to know what they might expect to see when visiting hospital for an appointment or when being admitted for a procedure.
These initiatives are pieces of work by co-authors Jane Rees from the NHS Learning Disability Nursing and Safeguarding Team at RCH Treliske and Angie Emrys-Jones, Publications Lead of Cornwall Down’s Syndrome Support Group.
These booklets are easy read, use Makaton symbols throughout to support images, and will be available shortly in hard copy which will be sent out to patients known to the Learning Disability Team at RCHT ahead of appointments or hospital admissions.
A Makaton downloadable resource to accompany the books will be freely available to both patients and staff. It is intended that wards use the resource to provide ‘now and next’ boards with a timeline of treatment – medicine/operation/sleep/wake up/eat/drink/toilet/home etc. therefore creating a visual timetable for patients who need more support to embed their understanding and manage expectations of procedures or admissions etc.
Resources to support you
- Acute Liaison Service For Learning Disabilities (RCHT1198)
- Carer’s Passport (RCHT1779)
- Death by indifference – Report published by MENCAP
- Information for carers (RCHT1235)
- My autism hospital passport – a resource for people with autism who might need hospital treatment, published by the National Autistic Society
- This is my Hospital Passport – for people with autism coming into hospital (CHA4720)
- This is my Hospital Passport – for people with a learning disability coming into hospital (CHA4375)
Caring for carers
Maternity Safeguarding
Pregnancy and birth are a crucial time for change – what happens in the womb can last a lifetime. There are increasing numbers of families with complex social factors and safeguarding concerns. Maternity Safeguarding plays a key role in early identification, assessment of risks and providing appropriate support and referrals, making sure women and children are protected from harm.
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Maternity Safeguarding policies.
Contact Information
The hospital’s named Midwives for Safeguarding can be contacted via switchboard.
For further advice:
- Contact the Multi-Agency Referral Unit (MARU)
- Telephone: 0300 123 1116
Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)
We monitor the application of DoLS within the hospital following guidelines set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the DoLS Code of Practice (DH supplement) 2008.
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) policies.
Contact Information
The hospital’s MCA and DoLS Lead can be contacted via switchboard.
Prevent (Counter Terrorism)
Terrorist-related activity is not a subject normally associated with the health service; however, the health sector is in a key position to support susceptible individuals. The Department of Health recognises the NHS nationally has more person-to-person contact than any other agency in the whole of the UK. We all have a role in ensuring our communities remain safe.
Radicalisation is a new category of adult abuse and sits in Safeguarding for both adults and children.
Contact Information
Our staff has a responsibility to recognise and report possible concerns about radicalisation. This responsibility extends to reporting concerns about staff members as well.
- To report concerns to the Police, call 101.
- If there is an emergency, call 999 or the Anti-Terrorism Hotline on 0800 789 321.
Seek advice or make a Prevent referral if:
- You believe that someone may be at risk of radicalisation (either directly or online)
- You suspect someone is trying to radicalise a vulnerable person
If you need to make or discuss a Prevent referral, please contact the hospital’s Prevent team via switchboard.
If the Prevent Lead/Safeguarding team are unavailable or it is out of hours and you assess the concern cannot delay, please consider contacting the police and completing the Prevent National Referral Form.
Consent for referral is always preferred, but if you have any concerns about discussing with the person, or their parent or carer, or referral increasing any risks please do not let this deter you from referring. You can discuss these concerns with your line manager and/or The Trusts’ Prevent Lead or the Police. Consent is not required at the point of referral if you deem this will increase risk. Please make the referral and the Prevent team or Police will advise regarding consent once the initial information gathering by the Police (deconfliction) has taken place and any risks have been assessed.
Myth buster video
The home office is making myth buster online videos, featuring individuals, family and community members talking about Prevent and their experience of it:
Policies and Guidelines
Safeguarding Children
The Safeguarding Children team are passionately committed to empowering staff to provide safer, compassionate care to all our children and families. We are dedicated to keeping our community safe and positively impacting on the lives of all children and their families ensuring the child is at the centre of everything we do.
Our robust policies and effective guidance supports staff to meet our safeguarding standards. The Safeguarding Children team empower staff working with children and families to have the confidence to ask courageous questions with professional curiosity and act on the identified risk.
We always aim to work in an open, transparent and productive way to safeguard children and families. We employ a continued commitment to multiagency working, liaising where appropriate, sharing information and offering professional challenge in order to keep children safe.
Policies and Guidelines
Please click here to view Safeguarding Children policies.
How do I report child safeguarding concerns?
- Children’s Social Care:
Child protection and safeguarding
- Isles of Scilly:
Email the Isles of Scilly children’s social care team: ChildrensSocialCareGC@scilly.gcsx.gov.uk
Call 01720 424 354, out of hours service call 01720 422 699
- Out of County children:
‘Google’ the child’s local area Children’s Social Care: (e.g. ‘Shirehampton, Bristol, Children’s Social Care’)
Contact Information
The hospital’s Safeguarding Children team can be contacted via switchboard.
Spinal Cord Injury
Patients and professionals working together to develop practice for Spinal Cord Injury patients.
Safeguarding Services are the central point of contact for patients with a spinal cord injury. We receive the ‘Patient Care Passport for Spinal Cord Injuries’ and liaise with the relevant wards on behalf of the patient.
For information about what support is available to you when you come to hospital, please view our information leaflet: Spinal cord injury – Support available when coming to hospital.
Contact Information
- Email: cft.safeguarding@nhs.net
Patient Care Hospital Passport for Spinal Cord Injuries
If you have a spinal cord injury, please complete our Patient Care Passport for Spinal Cord Injuries or alternatively email: cft.safeguarding@nhs.net to request a passport. This passport will alert staff that you have a spinal cord injury and help support any additional clinical needs you may have.
Documents and clinical guidance
- Carer’s Policy
- Carer’s Passport (RCHT 1779)
- Information for Carer’s (RCHT1235)
- Spinal Cord Injury – Support available when coming to hospital (RCHT1906)
Moving and handling
- Safe Moving and Handling of Spinal Injury Patients (Video)
- Moving and Handling of Patients and Inanimate Loads Policy
- Moving and Handling Patients with Actual or Suspected Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)
- Please click here to view our information sheets
Useful Links
- British Association of Spinal Cord Injury Specialists
- Guidelines for Management of Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction in Individuals with Central Neurological Conditions
- Personal assistants continuing to support people during a hospital admission
- The Royal Marsden Manual: Procedure Guidelines – Manual Evacuation of Faeces (Sign in with an OpenAthens account)
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
- Mobilising times following a change of cushion (Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)
- Re-mobilising after a period of bedrest (Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)
- Re-mobilising onto a healed pressure ulcer (Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)
- The initial mobilisation of a SCI patient from the acute stage (Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)
Spinal Injury Association (SIA)
- SCI Knowledge Hub
- For contact details of the Support Network Officer for the South West of England and to book a support session please click here
- For Our counselling service please click here. This is a free service available to SIA members.
Contact Information for Digital Rectal Evacuation of Faeces (DRE)
- For Surgical Care Practitioners please contact Switchboard on 01872 250000
- For Marie Therese House please contact 01736 758 879
Wheelchair Service
The Wheelchair Service supports adults and children who require a standard or specialist wheelchair, living in Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly. They assess people with long term mobility needs who require a wheelchair for longer than a period of 6 months. All equipment is provided on a long term loan basis for as long as your clinical need requires it. If you require a wheelchair, a GP or other health professional involved in your care can make a referral.
Caring for carers
We Are With You
Our We Are With You hospital team works intensely with individuals who regularly present with underlying drug and alcohol issues and are frequently transitioning between the hospital and the community. As well as our hospital in reach team, we offer community services in Truro, Penzance and Liskeard.
Contact information
- The We Are With You hospital team can be contacted via switchboard.
- Truro Office Number: 01872 263001
- Out of hours: 03332 000325
Page last reviewed: 23 April 2026