Health & Social Care has reassured the public that safeguarding duties in the healthcare sector have been satisfactorily carried out despite there not being a Named Doctor for Safeguarding in position for more than a year-and-a-half.
Deputy Jayne Ozanne submitted formal parliamentary questions on the issue after learning late last year that there has been no Named Safeguarding Lead – who ensures safeguarding and child protection policies are implemented – for some time.
She noted that the Medical Specialist Group, which is contracted by the States to provide specialist healthcare services, is required to provide this role.
HSC President Deputy George Oswald admitted that the post has been vacant since June 2024 but assured that “safeguarding responsibilities have been managed and shared across the wider MSG paediatric team, with immediate cover provided by the on‑call duty paediatrician to ensure continuity of care and adherence to safeguarding standards”.
He added that concerns over the vacancy have been put to the MSG on several occasions where “assurances were both sought and received that, in the absence of a Named Doctor for Safeguarding, safeguarding duties continued to be fulfilled by the duty paediatrician and the wider paediatric team”.
Despite these assurances Deputy Ozanne said the length of the vacancy is “totally unacceptable” and said the response made her “deeply concerned”.
She said it was all the more pertinent “given the concerns various families have publicly raised about the care they have received”, referencing the campaign group Families for Cultural Change which came about after concerns with safeguarding were raised multiple times in the States chamber.
“Good practice in safeguarding for any organisation requires a single point of contact, this is even more important in a healthcare setting which treats children in the most vulnerable of situations on a daily basis,” Deputy Ozanne added.
“I am all too familiar with the problems caused in organisations where safeguarding has not been given the importance it deserves, and where victims of abuse or systemic failures have felt unheard and unsupported.
“This is an area of great concern to me and many others, and I hope we are able to give it the priority that it deserves so that we can ensure that all in our care are protected from harm.”
Deputy Ozanne also questioned vacancies in other safeguarding roles, specifically the “Designated” doctor and nurse, but Deputy Oswald said these roles were fundamentally different to the leads for safeguarding and said only the designated nurse position has been vacant since 2025.
He said “continuous cover is provided for this role by ensuring safeguarding responsibilities are maintained throughout HSC by Safeguarding specific roles within Adult and Children services and with additional support from the Designated Doctor and the Independent Chair of the Islands Safeguarding Partnership”.
Express asked HSC about the vacant safeguarding role in November 2025 and received a similar response from Dermot Mullin, Director of Operations.
“We are in regular discussions with the MSG about the named safeguarding lead but can assure everyone that as part of their on-call responsibilities the paediatric team provide medical input if required to support multi-agency safeguarding responses,” he said.
