title: Safeguarding children: the benefits of a peer-review process.
abstract: Nurses in hospitals and in the community are increasingly taking a leading role in safeguarding children. NHS London established a Safeguarding Improvement Team (SIT) in 2009. The SIT project was designed as a one-off activity to raise performance related to safeguarding children in London. This article presents a peer-review process that was established by NHS London and implemented across the 31 PCTs across London. This article presents the peer-review process methodology and a summary of the findings from the SIT visits. Feedback was requested from participants about participants' perceptions of the peer-review process immediately after the SIT visits and again, several months after the completion of all SIT visits. Findings show that the peer-review process was of value, both organisationally and professionally, and the process itself led to identification of good practice as well as gaps in existing practices. The non-threatening nature of the peer-review process was particularly valued, as was the feedback offered by the review teams.
authors.affiliation: Kingston University, London, UK.
authors.forename: Trish
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morris-Thompson
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shepherd
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Briony
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ladbury
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirk
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marks-Maran
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D010380:Peer Review; D017751:Safety Management; D013222:State Medicine