Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime for South Yorkshire visits Sheffield Children’s

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust welcomed Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime for South Yorkshire Kilvinder Vigurs to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

The Deputy Mayor visited the Sheffield Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) and Safeguarding Support Unit (SSU) at the hospital alongside members of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s (SYMCA) Partnerships and Commissioning team. Over the course of their visit, they learnt how the Safeguarding team at Sheffield Children’s delivers safe, kind and outstanding care for children, young people and families across South Yorkshire and beyond.

Kilvinder Vigurs said: “It was a privilege to visit the Sheffield Sexual Assault Referral Centre and Safeguarding Support Unit and see first-hand the compassionate and expert care being delivered to children and young people across South Yorkshire.

“The team’s commitment to excellence is clear in every aspect of their work and their ongoing efforts to meet the rigorous requirements for ISO 15189 accreditation reflect a deep dedication to quality, safety and continuous improvement. I am proud to support a service that places the wellbeing of victims at the heart of everything it does.”

As Deputy Mayor, Kilvinder is responsible for the oversight of policing and criminal justice services across South Yorkshire. This involves tackling crime and anti-social behaviour whilst also commissioning services, including the Children’s SARC, to support victims and reduce offending. Her visit to Sheffield Children’s showed her the crucial role that the Safeguarding team take in supporting children and young people under the care of Sheffield Children’s, and how they work closely with a range of organisations across the region to provide holistic care.

The Safeguarding Support Unit (SSU) is an outpatient area at Sheffield Children’s Hospital providing child protection medical assessments for children and young people where safeguarding concerns have been raised, or where the opinion of a specialist paediatrician has been sought. The service deals with physical, sexual and emotional abuse and where there are concerns of neglect.

Clare Beecher, Safeguarding Support Unit and Sexual Assault Referral Centre Manager, said: “We were proud to welcome the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime to see our unit today, and had some excellent conversations about how we support families who visit us. Our team are specially trained to create a suitable environment for all of the children and young people that we see, and we work hard to make sure that they are able to share their experiences with us.

The SSU also houses the Children’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), which provides a child and adolescent friendly environment for 0–18-year-olds from across South Yorkshire and Humberside who have been victims of sexual assault or rape.

Dr Anna Ramsbottom, Clinical team lead for the safeguarding support unit and SARC at Sheffield Children’s, spoke about how the team at Sheffield Children’s are specially trained to offer forensic and medical assessments, tailored to meet the needs of children, young people and families who visit the unit.

Anna said: “The Sheffield SARC is a really important facility that we host here at Sheffield Children’s, and it is important that partner agencies across the region know we are here and what we can offer. The SARC provides children and young people across South Yorkshire and beyond with care during an unimaginably difficult time, and gives them the opportunity to access support services from a wide-ranging team to aid their recovery”

“We have very close working relationships with a number of organisations involved in the care of children and young people, so we were thrilled to welcome the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and talk to her all about the outstanding work that the team does here. We can’t wait to welcome her back in future.”

For more detail, please visit the Sheffield Children’s website or watch a video describing the  patient journey through our SARC on YouTube.