We want every person who uses our services to feel safe. Our systems and processes help keep adult and children safe from abuse and neglect.  

We care about our patients and their families, and we’re committed to doing the right thing.

What is safeguarding? 

 It’s the right of every human being to live a life free from abuse and neglect. We all have a duty of care to protect adults and children from: 

• physical abuse 
• neglect 
• discrimination 
• sexual abuse 
• financial abuse 
• psychological abuse 
• organisational abuse 
• domestic abuse 
• modern slavery
• self-neglect. 

We work in partnership with local partners and individual agencies so that we can safeguard and support our local population.

Regional Safeguarding

Buckinghamshire

Safeguarding Adults First Response Team: Tel: 01296 383204 Email: ascfirstresponse@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Safeguarding Children First Response Team: Tel: 01296 383962 (Monday to Thursday 9am to 5.30pm, Friday 9am to 5pm). Or if you need an urgent response outside of these hours, call the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on: 0800 999 7677

Oxfordshire

Adult and Children Safeguarding teams on Tel: 0345 050 7666 who will signpost necessary calls to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for children and the Safeguarding Adults team for adults at risk.

Out of Hours Emergency Duty Team – 0800 833408

Safeguarding Berkshire West

• Reading Borough Council Tel: 0118 937 3747 / 01344 786 543
• West Berkshire Council Tel: 01635 519056/ 01344 351999 (
• Wokingham Borough Council Tel: 0118 974 6371/ 01344 351999

Our safeguarding systems and processes 

They help protect everyone who uses our services from inappropriate treatment or abuse. These systems and processes help our staff to care for people properly and to report allegations of abuse as soon as they become aware of them.

Strong governance arrangements help ensure that we fulfil our safeguarding responsibilities, and work efficiently to safeguard patients under our care. 

Employing appropriate staff 

We meet all statutory requirements and ensure that all staff we employ meet the right level of checks with the national Disclosure and Barring Service before starting working with us.  

Staff training and policy reviews  

We review and update our safeguarding policies regularly and train our staff at the right level for their roles. We make sure that staff competencies meet national guidance documents and evidence. We monitor training compliance and quality regularly.