Sex offenders can still slip through NHS net
Known sex offenders could be employed in front-line children's services for up to six months before their records are revealed. Trusts have been using a fast-track system since 2002, which clears recruits against government black lists, but these do not cross-reference with either the sex offenders register or local police information.
The fast-track system was negotiated with the Criminal Records Bureau by the Department of Health in summer 2002 against a backdrop of crippling delays in criminal record check during the CRB's first year of operation.
Under the system, new employees can be cleared to start work if they do not appear on the Protection of Children Act 1999 (POCA) list of people banned from working with children.
The list - maintained by the Department for Education and Skills on behalf of the DoH - contains names of people deemed unsuitable to work with children on evidence referred to either the health or the education secretaries by employers.
Like 'list 99' - the list of teachers with a ban or restrictions on working with children - the POCA list of NHS employees is not cross-referenced with criminal record information. Instead, an enhanced CRB check of individuals is carried out, which would include the sex offender register and local police information checks. But staff applying to work for the NHS can start work before the checks are completed.
Information is not usually sent to trusts until at least one month after the person has started work. And in some areas where local police systems 'are not adequately resourced', trusts can wait four to six months for reports, according to NHS Employers senior business manager Gordon Fleck.
Mr Fleck said there was 'a possibility' that a known sex offender could fall through gaps in the system. However, he said NHS Employers would like the fast-track system to continue until new legislation introduces a universal barring and vetting scheme for all NHS staff in about a year's time.
'In the light of recent events, we will have to look at whether staff should be allowed to start work before full CRB information is available,' said Mr Fleck. 'But our response has to be balanced with consideration of whether it's feasible to expect employers and employees to wait months between appointment and starting work.
'Look at what happened when the DfES said all staff must be cleared following the Soham inquiry - it led to such a backlog that schools remained closed at the start of term and kids were running around the streets - it was nonsense,' he said.
The role of list 99 has hit the headlines in recent days after education secretary Ruth Kelly admitted that the DfES had allowed sex offenders whose names were on the list to work in schools.
Asked about checks on potential employees to detect sex offenders, health secretary Patricia Hewitt said the NHS will be 'strengthening them even more' in line with new legislation set to be discussed in parliament next month.
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=4047103
The fast-track system was negotiated with the Criminal Records Bureau by the Department of Health in summer 2002 against a backdrop of crippling delays in criminal record check during the CRB's first year of operation.
Under the system, new employees can be cleared to start work if they do not appear on the Protection of Children Act 1999 (POCA) list of people banned from working with children.
The list - maintained by the Department for Education and Skills on behalf of the DoH - contains names of people deemed unsuitable to work with children on evidence referred to either the health or the education secretaries by employers.
Like 'list 99' - the list of teachers with a ban or restrictions on working with children - the POCA list of NHS employees is not cross-referenced with criminal record information. Instead, an enhanced CRB check of individuals is carried out, which would include the sex offender register and local police information checks. But staff applying to work for the NHS can start work before the checks are completed.
Information is not usually sent to trusts until at least one month after the person has started work. And in some areas where local police systems 'are not adequately resourced', trusts can wait four to six months for reports, according to NHS Employers senior business manager Gordon Fleck.
Mr Fleck said there was 'a possibility' that a known sex offender could fall through gaps in the system. However, he said NHS Employers would like the fast-track system to continue until new legislation introduces a universal barring and vetting scheme for all NHS staff in about a year's time.
'In the light of recent events, we will have to look at whether staff should be allowed to start work before full CRB information is available,' said Mr Fleck. 'But our response has to be balanced with consideration of whether it's feasible to expect employers and employees to wait months between appointment and starting work.
'Look at what happened when the DfES said all staff must be cleared following the Soham inquiry - it led to such a backlog that schools remained closed at the start of term and kids were running around the streets - it was nonsense,' he said.
The role of list 99 has hit the headlines in recent days after education secretary Ruth Kelly admitted that the DfES had allowed sex offenders whose names were on the list to work in schools.
Asked about checks on potential employees to detect sex offenders, health secretary Patricia Hewitt said the NHS will be 'strengthening them even more' in line with new legislation set to be discussed in parliament next month.
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=4047103
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