Safeguarding children – preventing abuse

Many nurses may feel they, unless working in child protection, have a minor role to play in preventing child abuse. This is not always the case.  It is worth remembering that child protection is everyone’s responsibility (HM Government, 2018). Everyone who works with, or comes across, children in the course of their work shares the responsibility for protecting the wellbeing of children, because, as HM Government (2018) point out, no single individual can have a full understanding of the needs of every child.

Nurses working in some environments, e.g. schools or GP surgeries, may develop long-term relationships with children and their families and therefore be in a position to better look out for the wellbeing of particular children, while other nurses may meet children in the community or when the child, or a family member, visits a hospital. Wherever nurses encounter children, they need to remember that child protection is