Today – Tuesday 18 October – is Anti Slavery Day, created to raise awareness of modern slavery and to inspire every effort to eliminate it.  As part of the safeguarding team for NHS England South, I was keen to take the opportunity to promote the day and raise awareness of the contribution that all of us can make.

Many ask the question – what is modern slavery, and does it really still exist?   Sadly, it is a very real problem; taking the form of forced servitude and labour, often under mental and physical threat, but is also widely connected to even more horrific activities such as sexual exploitation and human trafficking. As such, slavery is very much a priority area for safeguarding within the NHS.

As health professionals – but also as individuals – it is our duty to remain vigilant to the signs of slavery or exploitation and to notify the police, or speak to the organisation’s safeguarding lead for more advice. Only through raising concerns can we enable the authorities to take action.

My team in the South Central local office has put itself forward this year to take a lead within the South region on promoting anti slavery initiatives within local NHS Services. We are very fortunate in our area to have a number of professionals and stakeholders already working hard on this issue. In recent months we have been talking about modern slavery as an area for extra focus across our local areas, working with health and care providers and commissioners and have been asked to present at a number of educative events for health staff.

We are also working with a specialist national charity –  Unseen – to deliver training in this area for health staff in 2017. I’d recommend that if you have an interest in this matter to look at their website and also that of www.antislaveryday.com to learn more about the various forms of modern slavery and the human tragedy that they bring.

And as an open offer to our staff and local health and care partners, if you’d like more information on this subject or would like us to present on this issue to your team please make contact.