Trust HQ
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Brockworth
Gloucester
GL3 4AW
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E-mail: freedomofinformation@ghc.nhs.uk
Website: www.ghc.nhs.uk
DATE: 26/04/2022
Freedom of Information Request – Ref: FOI 067-2022
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find our response below.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services CAMHS.
1. When sexual abuse is disclosed at any
point in assessment/treatment. is there a
local policy or a standard way in which this
should be recorded e.g., description within
case notes.?
a. Do these policies refer to sexual abuse that
occurs online e.g., social media, internet
contact made, sharing images.?
GHC Sexual safety policy issued Jan 2022 – has
specific reference to risks to children of online
sexual abuse and actions to take.
GHC Safeguarding Children policy issued Jan
2022 – this policy is implemented if a child is at
risk including at risk of online sexual abuse. It
describes staff responsibilities and actions to take.
There is specific reference to child exploitation,
including through use of technology.
Assessment and Care Management policy –
requires that a risk assessment is completed at
assessment and updated as clinically indicated.
Assessing and Managing Clinical Risk Policy
issued March 2021 – requires a risk assessment
and subsequent management plan that would
include elements of online safety for every
CAMHS patient.
The Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children
Multiagency Protocol for safeguarding children
who are at risk of abuse through child sexual
exploitation – is on the GHC trust intranet. This
gives very detailed information about what to
recognise and staff responsibilities and actions.
2. List all assessment tools that make
references to a patient’s online life i.e.,
assessment mentioning young people
engaging with social media, frequency of
use of the internet.
Patient electronic record RiO. recording – Risk
assessment form has section specifically stating
‘risk of sexual exploitation/ abuse’, so that
clinicians always consider this in assessment
which includes a link to a risk history form and a
a. Indicate if assessment tools ask about:
. Online child sexual exploitation colloquially
referred to as ‘online grooming’.
. Youth-produced sexual image
. Sextortion
b. Non-consensual sexual images
. Live streaming
. Abuse through production, dissemination,
or possession of child sexual abuse
material videos or images.
child safeguarding form for further details to be
recorded and to a GSCP form to outline processes
to children and parents. Another section on the
same risk assessment asks specifically about risks
associated with social media.
Progress notes in the electronic record have a
flagging system that enables staff to attach a flag
that links the information to the risk history. This
include flags for abuse, safeguarding children and
risk from others, more than one flag can be
selected.
Use of Child Exploitation screening tool is
standard practice where needs are indicated
The CAMHS Harmful Sexual Behaviour team use
specialist assessment tools eg. AIM x3
3. What support and interventions do you
offer to a service user who has
experienced technology-assisted sexual
abuse?
a. Is the support or intervention offered
specific to technology-facilitated sexual
abuse?
The child/ young person would be offered
assessment and support within the context of their
Mental Health need rather than specifically related
to sexual abuse. Specialist provision would be
sought for a child based on any needs that arose.
4. Is training provided to staff on online harms
and the impact of technology-assisted
sexual abuse young people?
Past whole service CPD day covered a variety of
aspects of online safety risk and harm.
The Child Exploitation team have presented their
role and remit at some CAMHS team away days.
All staff must attend Level 3 Interagency
Safeguarding training – is part of mandatory
training profile and staff and their managers
notified when up for renewal or overdue.
All staff must attend three sessions of GHC Trust
safeguarding children group supervision a year,
led by GHC safeguarding team staff
The Trusts safeguarding team are available during
office hours to discuss any concerns.
5. Any further comments. The CAMHS staff embedded with the Youth
Support Team attend the monthly Child
Exploitation multiagency panels.
SARC
Hope House SARC is commissioned to see adults only and the standard pathway for children is to go to
The Bridge in Bristol. That being said we will sometime see 16/17 year olds and sometimes have
telephone conversations with people dealing with younger persons.
1. Are there policies or a standard way to
record technology-assisted sexual abuse
when it is disclosed at any point in
assessment/treatment.?
a. If yes, please list the policies.
No, when dealing with young persons an
assessment is made by the Crisis Worker and the
Clinician as to what risks and vulnerabilities the
young person is susceptible to. This will include
identifying a risk of CSE – If this is identified we
have a standard marker on our notes that
indicates ‘Risk of CSE’, there is no specific marker
for technology-assisted SA. If a risk is identified
then the Child Exploitation screening tool will be
completed and forwarded to the Multi Agency
Safeguarding Hub MASH. at Shire Hall in
Gloucester.
Gloucestershire Health & Care is a member of the
Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children’s
Partnership.
The screening tool is the standard tool provided by
the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children’s
Partnership GSCP. and is available online on the
GSCP website.
2. Are there assessment methods that are
used to assess for technology-assisted
sexual abuse? See the standard Screening
Tool available on the link above.
a. If yes, list the assessment methods that
reference the following:
. Online child sexual exploitation colloquially
referred to as ‘online grooming’.
. Youth-produced sexual image
. Sextortion
b. Non-consensual sexual images
. Live streaming
. Abuse through production, dissemination,
or possession of child sexual abuse
material videos or images.
See the standard Screening Tool available on the
website mentioned above.
3. What support and interventions do you
offer to a service user who has
experienced technology-assisted sexual
abuse?
Our standard support referrals are based upon
their need following a sexual assault and can
potentially consist of Counselling through TIC+ ,
Emotional support via GRASAC, Children’s
Independent Sexual Violence Advisor CHISVA.
via GRASAC. Alongside this we would look to see
if there were any specific referrals that may be
relevant to the client.
This is all in addition to the standard safeguarding
policies and processes that we have in place for
young persons, which would see a Multi-Agency
Referral Form MARF. submitted to the MASH.
4. Is training provided to staff on online harms
and the impact of technology-assisted
sexual abuse young people?
No specific training is provided in relation to online
and technology-assisted exploitation, but all staff
are either level 2 or level 3 safeguarding trained
for adults and children.
Should you have any queries in relation to our response in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact
me. If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your request and wish to ask
us to review our response, you should write to:-
–
Head of Legal Services / Associate Director of Corporate Governance
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Gloucester Business Park
Brockworth
GLOUCESTER GL3 4AW
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E-mail: ——-
If you are not content with the outcome of any review, you may apply directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ICO. for further advice/guidance. Generally, the ICO will not consider your case
unless you have exhausted your enquiries with the Trust which should include considering the use of
the Trust’s formal complaints procedure. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Officer
On behalf of Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust
FOI Request
Sent: 23 March 2022 10:35
To: Freedom of Information
Subject: FOI Request
This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe. If unsure, please contact ghcit@ghc.nhs.uk
-------------------------Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, I am a PhD Student within the Division of Psychology & Mental Health at the University of Manchester. I am writing to make a Freedom of Information request to Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, which I am entitled to under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. My PhD topic is ‘Understanding the Psychological Impact of Online Child Sexual Abuse OCSA.’. As part of this PhD, I am interested in understanding NHS responses to OCSA. Current literature examining the psychological impact of OCSA on young people highlights the difficulty many young people face when trying to access services or explain their experience of online abuse to healthcare professionals Hamilton-Giachritsis et al., 2020; Martin, 2014.. This often makes the healing process more difficult for victims. Likewise, literature exploring healthcare professionals’ perspectives of OCSA, has shown that many practitioners find the assessment tools used to assess for child sexual abuse CSA. to be too general to also assess for OCSA El-Asam et al., 2021.. This past year the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children NCMEC. has seen a 100% increase in the reports from the public of online sexual abuse, and the incidence of online grooming significantly increased WeProtect, 2021.. Qualitative interview-based studies are important for gaining a foundational understanding of how practitioners respond to OCSA. However, due to the rapid increase of OCSA in the past year, it is also valuable to understand treatment availability for OCSA from a wider service level. Therefore, I am sending Freedom of Information requests to NHS Trusts, with affiliated Sexual Assault Referral Centre SARC. or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services CAMHS.. This will help highlight gaps in current response procedures for OCSA and inform future intervention methods. Attached to this email is a Word Document with a list of questions categorised by service i.e., SARC and CAMHS.. Please answer the questions for the services. affiliated with your Trust. The word document also contains definition of technology facilitated sexual abuse. Please respond to this request by emailing the answers to the questions to Please let me know if you have any concerns, or let me know if the request is too wide or unclear. Additionally, in the instance that any of this information is already in the public domain, could you please direct me to where to locate this information and if needed any page references and URLs.
I understand that you are required to respond to my request within the 20 working days after you receive this email. I would ask if you could confirm that you have received this request by responding to this email.