What is a designated or named professional?
Designated and named professionals are qualified professionals with additional experience and post graduate qualifications in child welfare and safeguarding. They hold specific roles across the ‘health economy’ (there is a one minute guide on the health economy on the Leeds City Council (LCC) website) to ensure that children and young people are safeguarded in Leeds.
Designated professionals - as clinical experts and strategic leaders, take a lead on all aspects of the health service contribution to safeguarding children across an area, providing support to all providers, including providing leadership, advice, support and supervision to named safeguarding health professionals, social work, Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships (LSCP), Local Safeguarding Adult Boards, and NHS England. They also provide advice to subcontracting agencies, independent providers and privately funded establishments within the health economy.
Named professionals - each health provider must have a named nurse and named doctor and a named midwife (if the agency provides midwifery services) for safeguarding children with the skills, knowledge and competencies to support all activities necessary to ensure that the organisation meets its responsibilities to safeguard and protect children and young people. Named professionals have a key role in promoting good professional practice within their organisation, providing advice and expertise for fellow professionals, and ensuring safeguarding training is in place.
There is a One Minute Guide on What statutory guidance says about safeguarding health on the LCC website.
Meet our new designated doctors
Dr Anna Gregory
I have been a Consultant Paediatrician since 2009. I work in Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust. I am a consultant on the child protection rota, an adoption and fostering medical adviser and the lead consultant for the Springfield clinic (where babies exposed to drugs and alcohol antenatally are seen) . I have been the Named Dr for Safeguarding since 2019 in my organisation. I am still keeping a session a week for the Named Dr role at present and will be sharing the Designated Dr role with Dr Wilder.
I am looking forward to working with those involved in the city to continue to make sure Leeds is a Child Friendly city and a safe place to grow and develop. I feel having a Consultant from both of the Health trusts will lead to good collaborative working and will ensure we are able to understand the organisations concerns and be able to support the wider safeguarding community.
Over my many years in the community as a Consultant I have continued to work with other agencies to ensure we do the right thing for the children we are seeing and are concerned about, I look forward to expanding this aspect in my new role.
Dr Rochelle Wilder
I have been a consultant general paediatrician for almost 11 years and continue to care for children with both acute and chronic health problems in Leeds General Infirmary. I became named doctor for child protection for the acute trust LTHT around 10 years ago. I am really passionate about safeguarding as you can make such a direct positive difference to children's lives. I also really enjoy working within teams of like minded professionals in order to make a difference.
Like Dr Gregory I am also retaining my named doctor role. I feel like my years of experience in this role will help me in this new challenge of being designated doctor. I feel our combined experience and perspectives will really build on the remarkable work done already in Leeds in order to make this city a safer place for children.
In my spare time you will be most likely to find me in the gym, usually practicing yoga. Or running after my two girls.