NHS Trust fails to conduct thorough DBS checks

Quoting Bicester Advertiser

While the trust was told it did provide a good quality of care to patients, a shortage of doctors meant targets were missed while full checks were not in place to ensure every GP could work safely with children with proof of disclose and barring service (DBS) checks not always available – although there was no suggestion any youngsters were at risk.

An Enhanced DBS with barred list checks takes anything from 2-4 weeks to complete, depending on the style of checks needed. Every practising doctor should have one to hand and have one completed every 2-3 years as good practice.

In regards to a recruitment issue, are these checks compiled by the recruitment agency to ‘tick it off the list’? Or are the checks completed by the Trusts? Is there a central database to check for medical and healthcare staff to ensure they have a relevant DBS and valid qualifications.

Cataphract partner with several NHS Trusts to complete their vetting and background checks to obtain CTC and SC Clearance. We understand the pressure to engage staff on site to obtain government targets. Sometimes, something has to slip to get staff on site and ‘My DBS is in process’ sometimes doesn’t cut the mustard.

Cataphract is an umbrella organisation for the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) in England and Wales formerly known as the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI (for Northern Ireland). We provide a regulated ‘one stop’ service giving access to records held by the police, together with those held by the Department of Health (DH) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

Cataphract has been processing criminal record checks since 2003. We have developed our system to make it as user friendly and simple for the client as possible. Our flexible approach means that the customer can have as much or as little involvement in the management of the process as they wish.

Regardless of the involvement selected, Cataphract staff quality controls every application to eliminate errors.

If you would like to discuss DBS checks, please get in contact.