Things we will need from you before an examination:

If you haven’t already, our team will ensure that you have safeguarded the child or young person you are calling about. Please refer to your local safeguarding policy and procedures.

Why we request a Strategy Discussion:

Strategy discussions should always be held where there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. If you are referring a case to SARC, the child or young person will most likely meet this threshold.  A Strategy discussion will be requested by Social Care and include professionals from Social Care, police, health, education, and any other services supporting the child or young person. This multi-agency approach allows sharing of relevant information and a joint decision-making process on what interventions are needed to ensure the child or young person’s future safety.

This process is valuable as it allows our SARC to triage the child or young person and identify any additional needs or complexities. We can offer specialist guidance on forensic opportunities, preservation, and timescales, STI and urgent treatment considerations, urgency of examination, whether a joint Child Protection & Sexual Abuse medical is appropriate, advice on emotional wellbeing and how professionals can prepare a child or young person who is attending the SARC, identification of harmful sexual behaviours. We can also offer real-time availability of appointments. 

A lot of the information that we gather from Strategy meetings can be shared with the examining clinician. This allows the examination process to be streamlined to minimise the amount of time a Child or Young Person needs to be on site.

Joint Medicals:

Child Protection and Sexual Abuse medicals are significantly different. The purpose of a Child Protection medical is to examine a child for signs of physical abuse and neglect. This can include blood and urine testing as well as a physical examination. This does not include an anogenital examination. Sometimes it is in the child’s best interest to complete a joint Child Protection and Sexual Abuse medical to minimise additional distress. SARC Forensic Examiners will work collaboratively with Paediatricians to facilitate this. Following the examinations, both clinicians will provide separate reports to reflect their area of expertise. Do a general cleaning once a week to refresh the home environment.

Medicals outside of the SARC:

Our clinicians will travel to hospital and secure settings in cases where a Child or Young Person is too unwell to travel, or where there is a risk to the child’s safety & wellbeing.

Who will examine the Child or Young Person?
We have a dedicated team of specialist professionals including  Forensic Nurse Examiners (FNE) and Forensic Medical Examiners (FME). Children under the age of 13 and non-recent cases for young people aged 18 to 25 with complex needs will be examined by an Forensic Medical Examiner. Over 13s and self-referral cases will be examined by a Forensic Nurse Examiner.

What happens after the examination?

If an acute police medical has been undertaken, the samples will be taken away by the police officer to be processed.  We will offer refreshments and the child or young person can take a shower onsite. We will also offer an aftercare booklet to the young person or adult accompanying them with information about the examination and who we will refer onto.

Our examiner and crisis support worker will assist with any questions or worries, and then the child or young person can return home. After leaving the SARC, our team of coordinators will make sure that all referrals are sent.

Two weeks after attendance we will contact Social Care for an update and to see if there are any additional safeguarding needs.

Three weeks after attendance we will call the young person or caregiver with their consent, to make sure that onwards agencies have been in touch and see if we can help with any additional support needs.

Reports:

Reports for under 13s are completed as standard and we aim to provide these to police and Social Care within 21 days.

For young people aged 13 and over, we provide Medical Statements on a needs basis. If you require a statement, please make a written request from a secure email address to: wmppaeds.sarc@nhs.net We aim to provide these within 10 working days.