Safeguarding adults is about preventing and responding to allegation of abuse, harm or neglect of adults at risk. Safeguarding adults aims to work with local people and partner so that adults are, safe and able to protect themselves from abuse and neglect, treated fairly and with dignity and respect, protected when they need to be, able to easier the support, protection and services that they need.
Safeguarding adults aims to create a place where people can live free from harm and abuse whatever their circumstance. Those who need safeguarding hep are often elderly and frail, living on their own in the community, or without much family support in care homes. They are often people with physical or learning disabilities and people with mental health needs at risk of suffering harm both in institution and in the community. Safeguarding encompasses six key concepts: empowerment, protection, prevention, proportionate responses, partnership and accountability. Social care organisations play an important role in the protection of members of the public from harm and are responsible for ensuring that services and support are delivered in ways that are high quality and safe.
The term “adult protection” implies a paternalistic approach. Safeguarding adults reinforces that all adults have the right to live free from abuse and degrading treatment, but that some people may have the right compromised. One such group of people are individuals who have community care needs.
The Our Health, Our care, Our say white paper sets out a vision to provide people with good quality social care and NHS services in the communities where they live. NHS services are halfway through a 10 year plan to become more responsive to patient needs and prevent I’ll healthy the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Social care services are also changing to give service users more independence, choice and control. In 2005 announced these consultations would form the basis of a single white paper. The paper would recognise how NHS and social care services work together and identify how the delivery of these services could adapt to provide individuals with the health and social care services they need closer to their homes. The proposals in the White paper, Our Health, Our care, and our say aim to: change the way these services are provided in communities and make them as flexible as possible, provide a more personal services that is tailored to the specific health or social care needs of individuals, give patients and services users more control over the treatment they receive, work with health and social care professionals and services to get the most appropriate treatment or care for their needs.
To achieve these aims family doctors, primary care trusts and local authorities who have direct contact with patients and services users will have more say in how best to plan and by services for local communities, public, private, voluntary and charitable organisations will need to work in partnership to put the interests of the public first, ensure health and social care staff receive the right training and make good health and social care services an essential part of local communities.
A government report putting people first identifies a shared vision for the transformation of adult social care, it describes some of the key challenges we are facing today; such as, greater demographic pressure as people not only live longer but will be experiencing more complex conditions into their old age, changing family structures and pressures this can put on families, changing expectations and the increasing choice which his demands and financial.
In 2008 a publication went out to local authorities from the department heath. This set out information to support the transformation of social care, as outlined in the Health White paper. A new direction for community service describes the vision for development of a personalised approach to the delivery of adult social care. It is a shared vision and commitment to the transformation of adult social care over a period of three years; key elements being, prevention, early intervention and re-enablement, personalisation and information, advice and advocacy.
Local authorities will be required to move to a system of personal budgets for everyone who is eligible for publicly funded adult social care support. They will also be required to provide universal information, advice and advocacy services for all who need services and their careers. This is irrespective of eligibility for public.
In 2000 strategic guidance was issued to authorities in Wales called “in safe hands” it established the national framework for the development of local policies, procedures and guidelines for the protection of vulnerable adults. ” in safe hands” provides for social services departments to co-ordinate and lead a with a range of partners including the NHS and the police; their duties are to develop and implement local arrangements to prevent, identify, respond to and prevent abuse of vulnerable adults in all settings and to take appropriate action against perpetrators of abuse.
The vetting and barring scheme was introduced in 2009 in response to shortcoming identified in the Richard report with regards to the then current scheme for vetting staff following the soham murders. In this process there are two bodies of which are involved within the process of which include;
The independent safeguarding authority, which makes all barring decisions relating to individuals and is responsible for the upkeep of the lists of barred individuals. The independent safeguarding authority will assess every person who wants to work or volunteer unsupervised with children or vulnerable adults. They will do this by working closely with the criminal records bureau.
Criminal records bureau and deciding on the information provided by the criminal record bureau whether to give the individual concerned an independent safeguarding authority registration or if requested add them to one of the barre lists. The criminal records bureau, which has a processing, function in relation to the barred lists and the online database.
The criminal records bureau will receive applications to the independent safeguarding authority and will gather and monitor information. It will also use the information previously found in the protection of vulnerable adults list, the protection of children act list and list 99 of which is a list of people whom are considered unsuitable for work with children of which is held by the department for children, school and families.
The vetting and barring scheme, involving the independent safeguarding authority, will have a major impact on the recruitment and monitoring practices of people working or volunteering with children. Created under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006; the vetting and barring scheme will replace the current list 99 protection of children act, protection vulnerable adults and disqualification orders regimes. The independent safeguarding will decide who is unsuitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable groups. It will base its decision on pulling together information held by various agencies, governments departments and the criminal records bureau. Once the scheme is fully rolled out, it will be illegal to hire to someone in regulated activity who us not registered, and has therefore not been checked by the independent safeguarding authority. The new scheme will cover employees and volunteers in the education, care and health industries affecting around 11.3 million people.
The local adults safeguarding board was established in 2009 and is a multi-agency partnership which provide strategic leadership for the development of safeguarding policy and practice, consistent with national policy and best practice. Membership includes representatives from adult social care, health, housing, probation, police, fire, crown prosecution service and the third sector.
The aforementioned vision is to ensure that vulnerable adults feel safe and free form abuse and neglect. The service is bases on the principles of preventions, protection, choice, self-determination, independence and recovery, and its mission is to ensure that adult safeguarding becomes everyone’s business.
Safeguarding adults boards provide vital leadership to those involved in adult safeguarding work across the full range of safeguarding issues. These range from serious incidents in hospitals and intuitional abuse in care settings to financial abuse and scam, bullying and victimisation. Speaking at the capita conference on adult safeguarding; Mr Burstow will also outline the new government guiding principles on safeguarding which seek to increase the protection for those most at risk in society. The principles outline the government’s objective to prevent and reduce the risk of harm to vulnerable people and set out the key issues, which must inform local arrangement including; empowerment supporting people to make decisions and have a say in their care, protection support and representation for these in greatest need, prevention it is better to take action before harm occurs, proportionality safeguarding must be built on proportionality and a consideration of people’s human rights, partnership local solutions through services working with their communities and accountability safeguarding practice and arrangements should be accountable and transparent.
There is a range of guidance and legislative framework of which provides support, these should be taken into account when undertaking risk assessments and implementing strategies to manage those identified risks. The legislative frameworks ensure that individuals are consulted, their rights are protected and any proposed action are in accordance with their wishes or in their best interest.
The no secrets document from the department of health provides guidance and set out principles, of which agencies should adhere to in the prevention and response to abuse of an adult at risk. The principles need to be considered when understanding risk assessments and also give reference to further framework for consideration, as part of strategies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of adults at risk. Some of the principles which are key to risk assessment and risk management are; actively promoting the empowerment and well-being of vulnerable adults through the services agencies provide, acting in a way which support the rights of the individual to lead an independent life base on self-determination and personal choice, recognising people who are unable to take their own decision and/or to protect themselves, their assets and bodily integrity, ensuring that when the right to an independent lifestyle and choice is at risk the individual concerned received appropriate help, including advice, protection and support from relevant agencies and ensuring that the law and statutory requirements are known and used appropriately so that vulnerable adults receive the protection of the law and access to the judicial process.
The human Rights Act 1998 give further legal effect to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European convention on human Rights. These rights not only Impact on matters of life and death, they also affect the rights people have in their everyday life: what people can say and do, their beliefs, their rights to a fair trial and similar basic entitlements. Most rights have limited to ensure that they do not unfairly damage other people’s rights.
Adults have the responsibility to respect other people’s rights, and in return they must respect theirs. Every adult has a right to dignity, receive equal treatment, fulfilment, autonomy, individuality, esteem, high quality of life, freedom of emotional expression, life, access to all personal records, not to be subject of discrimination and to privacy. If human rights and freedoms are breached people have a right to an effective solution in law, even if the breach was by someone in authority.
The equality Act 2010 provides protection from unlawful discrimination in relation to the following characteristics including disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. Agencies and their staff can be held legally responsible for what they have done if anyone does something, which is considered as unlawful discrimination, harassment or victimisation of an individual.
The Mental capacity Act 2005 provides a statutory framework to empower and protect vulnerable people who are not able to make their own decision. It makes it clear who can take decisions, in which situations, and how they should go about this. It enables people to plan ahead for time when they may lose capacity. The whole Act in underpinned by a set of five key principles; a presumption of capacity, every adult has the right to make his or her decisions and must be assumed to have capacity to do so unless it is proven otherwise. The rights of individuals to be supported to make their own decisions, people must be given all appropriate help before anyone concludes that they cannot make their own decisions.
Additional safeguards have also been introduced in law to protect the adult’s rights and ensure that the care, treatment or protection received is in their best interests. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards framework needs to be followed where intervention results in a deprivation of the person’s liberty. Referrals to the court of protection may also need to be considered; the court of protection is a specialist court for all issues relating to people who lack capacity to make specific decisions. The court can make decisions and appoint deputies to make decisions in the best interests of the person who lacks the capacity to do so.
In addition, the crime and disorder act 1998 is primary support and protection in relation to most forms of abuse and is the basis for the formation of community safety partnerships between the police and local authorities in the United Kingdom. Legislation covering hate crime is also relevant, a hate crime is defined as any criminal offence that is motivated by the perpetrator’s hostility, prejudice or hatred based on the victim’s perceived race, religions or belief, sexual orientation, transgender or disability. Domestic violence used to be included under hate crime but is now covered under the violence against women strategy.
It is recommended in “Safeguarding Adults” 2005 that there is a safeguarding adults serious case review protocol. This is agreed, on a multi-agency basis and endorsed by the coroner’s office, and details the circumstance in which a serious case review will be under taken. For example, when an adult experience abuse or neglect dies, or when there has been a serious incident, or in circumstances involving the abuse or neglect of one or more adults. The links between this protocol and a domestic violence review should be clear. There is a clear process for commissioning and carrying out of a serious case review by partnership. The draft care and support bill includes a requirement for local authorities to hold safeguarding adult reviews in certain circumstances and for partners on the safeguarding adults.
A safeguarding adult board must arrange for there to be a review of any case in which; an adult in the safeguarding adult board area with needs for care and support whether or not the local authority was meeting any of those needs, was or the safeguarding adult board suspects that the adult was, experiencing abuse or neglect. Also where the adults dies or there is reasonable cause for concern about how the safeguarding board, a member of it or some other person involved in the adult’s case acted.
Each member of the safeguard adult board must co=operate in and contribute to the carrying out of the review with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt from the adult’s care and applying those lessons to future cases.
The purpose of having a case review is not to reinvestigate or to apportion blame, or to establish how someone died its purpose is to establish the facts, establish whether there are lessons to be learnt from the circumstances of the case about the way in which local professionals and agencies work together to safeguard adults at risk, to review the effectiveness of procedures, inform and improve local inter-agency practice and commissioning arrangements, improve practise by acting on learning and developing best practice and prepare or commission an overview report which brings together and analyses the finding of the various reports agencies in order to make recommendation for future action.
There have been a number of high profile cases of abuse in recent years, resulting in serious case reviews, for example in 2008 SCOPE produced a report ” Getting away with murder, which catalogues a series of murders of people disabilities, including that of a disabled woman, whom collapsed in a door way on her way home. As she lay dying a man threw a bucket of water over her, covered her in shaving form and urinated on her. One of his friends filmed the incident on a mobile phone; in their response to the no secrets consolation scope stated “no secrets already provides national guidance. Scope is clear that such guidance is not effective enough and that this needs ti be moved into a statutory footing”.
All persons have the right to live their lives free from violence’s and abuse. This is underpinned by the duty on public agencies under the Human Rights Act 1998 to intervene proportionately to protect the right of individuals. These rights include article 2 the right to life, article 3 freedom from torture and article 8 rights to family life.
Any adult at risk of abuse or neglect should be able to access public organisations for appropriate interventions which enable them to live a life free from violence and abuse. It follows that all individuals should have access to relevant services for addressing issues of abuse and neglect, including the civil and criminal justice system and victim support services. Remedies available should also include measure that achieves behaviour change by those who have perpetrated abuse or neglect.
The primary responsibility of the safeguarding adult’s partnership is to enable all adults who is or may be eligible for community care services to access appropriate services if they need support to live a life that is free from abuse and neglect. The framework for enabling adults to access such support is referred to in these documents as the safeguarding adult’s procedures.
They should ensure that those adults who is or may be eligible for community care services and who may be experiencing abuse or neglect, receive an assessment of the risk they are facing. Where they face a critical or substantial risk to their independence and wellbeing, community care services should be considered as part of a safeguarding plan. Where the assessment does not lead to community care services provided or purchased other appropriate services should be signposted.
The procedures should be based on the presumption of mental capacity and on the consequent right of such adults to make their own choice in relation to safety from abuse and neglect; expect where the rights of other would be compromised. For people who are eligible for community care services and who have mental capacity. Safeguarding adult’s procedures should enable them access to mainstream services that will support them to live safer lives.
The multi-agency safeguarding procedures detail the following stages;
• Alert
• Referral
• Decision
• Safeguarding assessment strategy
• Safeguarding Plan
• Review
• Recording and monitoring
A number of professional bodies have developed code of practices, which provides guidance to their members on how they should respect individuals they provide a service to. Some of the guidance reflects the principles from the safeguarding adults’ framework and considerations to be taken when completing risk assessments and risk management processes. Of which include promoting the independence of individuals whilst protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm, respecting people as individuals and act to identify and minimise risk to the individual and to be personally responsible for making sure that you promote and protect the best interest of the people you provide care.
Assessing and managing risks to vulnerable adults should be integral to the organisation’s risk management strategy. Risks may relate to the working of the organisation; its provision of services, its delivery of individual activities or its social guardianship responsibility. In assessing and manging risks, the aim is to minimise either the likelihood of is or its potential impacts. In safeguarding terms, the aim of risk assessment and management it to prevent abuse occurring, to reduce the likelihood of it occurring and to minimise the impacts of abuse by responding effectively when it does occur.
Organisations should always take time to identify, evaluate and out in place risk-reducing measures; it is important that the organisation has a policy of positive risk taking and avoids becoming totally risk averse. Risk adverse cultures can stifle and constrain and could lead to inappropriate restriction to the individual’s rights; life is never risk free. Some degree of risk-taking is an essential part of fostering independence. For instance, if you identify an activity or set of circumstance as potentially risky to a vulnerable adult or group of vulnerable adults, this needs to be offset against the benefits which the individual or group might draw from taking part in that activity. Risk taking should be pursued in a context of promoting opportunities and safety, not poor practice. In a culture of positive risk-taking, risk assessment should involve everyone affected including vulnerable adults, carers, advocates, staff, volunteers and where they are involved health and social care staff.
The types of physical abuse can include hitting, slapping, scratching, pushing, rough handling, assault, battery, restraining without justifiable reason, misuse of medication and inappropriate sanctions including deprivation of food, clothing, warmth and health care needs.
There are a number of indictors that abuse is taking place of which include a history of unexplained falls or minor injuries especially at different stages of healing, unexplained bruising in well-protected areas of body for example on the inside of thighs or upper arm, unexplained bruising or injuries of any sort, burn mark of unusual type, for example caused by cigarettes and rope burns, a history of frequent changes of general practitioners or reluctance in the family, carer or friend towards a general practitioner consultation, accumulation of medicine which has been prescribed for a client but not administered and malnutrition, ulcers, bed scores an being left in wet clothing.
The types of sexual abuse can include sexual activity which an adopt client cannot or has not consented to or has been pressured into, sexual activity which takes place when the adult client is unaware of the consequence or the risks involved, rape or attempted rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and non-contact abuse for example voyeurism and pornography.
There are a number of indictors that sexual abuse is taking place of which includes unexplained changes in the demeanour and behaviour of the vulnerable adult, tendency to withdraw and spend time insolation, expression of explicit sexual behaviour and/or language by the vulnerable adult which is out of character, irregular and disturbed sleep pattern, bruising or bleeding in the rectal or genital areas, torn or stained underclothing especially with blood or semen and sexually transmitted disease or pregnancy where the individual cannot give consent to sexual acts.
The types of psychological abuse can include emotional abuse, verbal abuse, humiliation and ridicule, threats of punishments, abandonment, intimidation or exclusion from services, isolation or withdrawal from services or supportive networks, deliberate denial of religious or cultural needs and failure to provide access to appropriate social skills and educational development training.
There are a number of indictors that psychological abuse is taking place of which includes inability of the vulnerable person to sleep or tendency to spend long periods in bed, loss of appetite or overeating at inappropriate times, anxiety, confusion or general resignation, tendency towards social withdrawal and isolation, fearfulness and sign of loss of self-esteem and uncharacteristic manipulative, uncooperative and aggressive behaviour.
The types of financial abuse can include misuse or theft of money, fraud and extortion of material assets, misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits and exploitation or pressure in connection with wills, property or inheritance.
There are a number of indictors that financial abuse is taking place if which includes unexplained inability to pay for household shopping or bills, withdrawal of large sums of money which cannot be explained, missing personal possessions, disparity between the person’s living conditions and their financial resources and unusual and extraordinary interest and involvement in the vulnerable adults assets.
Multiple form of abuse may occur in an ongoing relationship or an abusive service setting to one person, or to more than on personal a time, making it important to look beyond single incidents or breaches in standards, to underlying dynamics patterns of harm. All of the aforementioned are types of abuse may be perpetrated as the result of deliberate intent and targeting of vulnerable people, Negligence or ignorance.
While most people would agree that prevention is better than cure, where the prevention of abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults is concerned, identifying that work and for whom and in what situation. Much abuse and neglect take place in secret, this makes it hard to prove it difficult that an abusive event has occurred and almost impossible to demonstrate that an abusive events has been prevented. Put another way, it is very difficult to judge what constitutes a successful prevention intervention.
An increase in referral might indicate an increase in awareness or it could mean an increase in abuse taking place. One of the strongest messages from the engagement with nonprofessional’s was that safeguarding must be built on empowerment, on listening very carefully to the voices of individuals who are at risk, and those who have harmed. Without empowerment, without people’s voices, safeguarding did not work.
This suggests that prevention is safeguarding needs to be broadly defined, informed by personalisation and include all social are user groups and service configurations. It includes multi-agency working, community safety, community participation and public awareness, as well as awareness raising and skills development with vulnerable adults.
There are a number of building blocks for prevention and early intervention of which include people being informed of their rights to be free form abuse and support to exercise these rights, including access to advocacy, a well trained workforce operating in a culture of zero tolerance of abuse, sound framework for confidentiality and information sharing across agencies, good universal services, such as community safety service, needs and risk assessments to inform people’s choice, a range of options for support to keep safe from abuse tailored to people’s individual needs, services that prioritise both safeguarding and independence and public awareness of the issues.
All organisations should have an explicit prevention of abuse policy, this will demonstrate commitment at the highest level to promoting an abuse free environment. Where there are policies and practices in place which ensures that any forms of abuse does not occur and that abuse by individuals is identified and eradicated. The policy should include a statement of principle that the home is committed to preventing abuse, an outline of training procedures in abuse prevention, an outline of disciplinary procedures in the event of abuse occurring, information about how to use the complaints procedure if abuse occurs and information on the range of organisations which can provide advice and support for staff.
Prevention of abuse has not always been high on the adult safeguarding agendas, but there I growing consensus about the importance of everyone with an interest in adult care services making efforts to prevent abuse of vulnerable adults. Effective prevention in safeguarding needs to be broadly defined and should include all social care user groups and service configurations. It does not mean being over-protective or risk-averse. Some of the most common prevention interventions for vulnerable adults include training and education of vulnerable adults and staff on abuse in order to help to recognise and respond to abuse. Other approaches include: identifying people at risk of abuse, awareness raising, information, advice and advocacy, policies and procedures, community links, legislation and regulation, interagency collaboration and a general emphasis on promoting empowerment and choice. Prevention needs to take place in the context of person-centred support and personalisation, with individuals empowered to make choices and supported to manage risks.
While working within the health and social care sector, your role is it be supportive rather than investigate if you suspect a client is being abused in any of the aforementioned ways you need to be open and honest about your concerns, stay calm, listen very carefully, ensure that no one it in immediate danger, call emergency services if urgency medical/police help is required, be aware that medical and forensic evidence might be needed, encourage the person not to wash or bathe as this could disturb medical/forensic evidence, tell the person that they did the right thing in telling you, express concerns and sympathy about what has happened, reassure that the information will be taken seriously and give information about what will happen next, next the person know that they will be kept involved at every stage, that they will be told the outcome and who will do this, give the person contact details so that they can report any further issues or ask any question that may arise, explain that you must tell your line manager or designated officer, inform your line manager or designated officer immediately, explain what you have heard or seen; that has been given rise to your concerns and give as much information as possible.
While when an individual in talking to you regarding abuse in any content that they have experienced ensure that you do not stop someone disclosing to you, be afraid to act on your concerns, press the person for more details, promise to keep secrets or make promises you cannot keep, gossip about the disclosure or pass on the information to anyone who does not have a legitimate need to know, contact the alleged abuser, attempt to investigate yourself, tidy up as this may disturb forensic evidence, be judgemental and leave details of your concerns on a voicemail or by email.
If you have raised your concern in the above way but either the vulnerable person or your line manager I reluctant to proceed with the referral, you should make a record and contact the CSSIW or safeguarding to obtain further advice. If your concern is relating to a member of your management team you can also then contact CSSIW or safeguarding directly.
If all mechanisms for reporting allegations of abuse have been exhausted without your concern being taken seriously, it should be noted that the Public Interest Disclosure Order 1998 provides for the active safeguarding and protection of what are commonly known as whistle blowers.
I have attached Appendix 2 of which gives an overview of my organisations safeguarding adults process. Professional judgement exercised within organisational policies and mutual cooperation will be key to operating the multi-agency safeguarding adult’s procedures. At each stage, decisions must be made about the most appropriate organisations and people to take the lead role in the safeguarding process. These decisions should follow multi-agency discussions and be recorded.
Yours policies and procedures are an integral part of your daily routine; they should form an accurate reflection of your practice and the eths within your provision. Your policies and procedures should be a working document and you should not be afraid to update or add to these policies whenever there is a need for example a change of legislation such as the administration medication, or employment law, a resident, relative or staff member with additional needs which are not fully considered in your policies and procedures, a new resident is admitted and you realise that your setting in procedure needs to be made more flexible and follow a procedure that you have not needs to follow previously, such as transport and outings policy, and you realise that additions or changed are needed to make the policy work.
Always remember that you must where possible, consult with the whole staff team, residents, relatives and any other persons when considering and making any apparent that you current procedures does not work and you may have to make immediate changes. In these cases it is important that the changes are made, but also important that you inform all those who use your provision of the changes. In addition to this ongoing monitoring you should formally review all of you policies and procedures annually, again taking into consideration the views all of your policies and procedures in the same month; you can for instance choose to review a number of polices each month to that they are all formally reviewed over the course of the year. This may also help to make consultation with your staff, residents and relatives more manageable. When your policies and procedures are reviewed, you need to show some evidence of those, and the fact that all staff are aware of the change. Probably the easiest and most effective way of doing this is to ask all staff changes. Probably the easiest and most effective way of doing this is to ask all staff to sign and date the policy once they have familiarised themselves with it.
It has long been recognised that feedback can be powerful motivator encouraging goal accomplishment, influencing behaviour, and helping to continue improve performance. Opening our mind to observations made by others can also assist us in self-reflection, altering our perspective of a situation, and thereby enhancing our capacity to change, grow and develop. This giving and receiving feedback is an integral part of developing productive workplace relations and providing continuous learning for both managers and staff. Furthermore, being able to provide positive and developmental feedback that will be accepted is an integral part of good day to day management practice and therefore an essential skill for any manager.
The no secrets document outlined its requirements for multi-agency working and this has been summarised in the national minimum standards for care and subsequently into local safeguarding adults boards and safeguarding procedures. Safeguarding adult boards are made up of the local social services authority, the police, NHS and all groups involved in protecting at risk adults. In order to ensure that the public re able to have a say in decision making. The boards also include members of the local community.
The standards outlined in the safeguarding adults national framework specifically detail how the partnership should work and be set up. It put the onus on local authorities to establish a multi-agency partnership to lead safeguarding adults work and to include representation from all the appropriate statutory agencies.
The way in which organisations work together is important but it often overlooked as the ofcus us on project design and delivery, particularly in emergency situations. However, by considering issues at an early stage many of the challenges to join working can be avoided or overcome more easily, and project delivery will be more effective. Whether the relationship is long term or short term, a true partnership or an alliance, formed across sectors or comprising organisations from the same sector, it is important that it is managed effectively. Despite the operational challenges, it is particularly important to maintain good practice in establishing and managing relationships in crisis affected situations, stronger relationships are more effective, more likely to have an impact on the ground, and are also better able to withstand crises.
There are many reason for working with other organisations but the two main reasons are dive by need, the fact that the end result could not be achieved by on organisation on its own, a the potential to have greater impact, of which other reasons include solidarity, sustainability, increase scale and influence of projects and programmes, spread risks, innovation, reputation and meeting statutory legal requirements.
When considering working with other it is also important to consider the most appropriate type of relationship. Working in partnership may not always be the best option. Partnership requires effort and should be the preferred option only when each organisation feel that the benefits outweigh the costs.
Safeguarding adults from abuse is clearly a high priority for the government but the key to ensuring these individuals are appropriately support and cared for, lies with the empowerment of the individual and their care staff, a knowledge of what can be expected, a knowledge of their own individual rights and access to a responsive complaints and advocacy service. Of equal importance will be the ongoing implementation of the standards set by the CSSIW, recruitment practices and the provision of appropriate raining for those involved in care services. This will help to ensure that workers are trained, supported and enables to work together to create a positive and empowering ethos within care setting.
Client participation has become increasingly important to social care; there is now a growing understanding of what client participation means. Participation operates at many levels, from individuals control over day to day decisions about what to wear, what to eat and how to spend one’s time to collective decisions about how services are or commissioned. It is not simply about being present or taking part but also about having an influence over decisions and action. Successful services user participation can lead to changes and improvements to services and benefits for individuals and for communities, for example increased confidence and new skills.
Encouraging and helping to developed effective working relationships between services and professional groups to enable them to protect vulnerable adults. Ensuring that local policy, procedures and practices are updated in line with any new legislation and national guidance. Improve effective3ness of practice in light of knowledge and research.
Past audits of individual adult protection case records will enable strengths and weaknesses in current practice to be identified, Accurate and consistent monitoring of vulnerable adult data will increasingly enable agencies across wales to base their policy and practice on sound and relevant evidence, highlighting trends and assisting in the planning process. By monitoring and auditing the individual’s complaints procedures and by listening to member of staff you should be able to determine and evaluate if the systems and procedures in your own work setting are effective in protecting vulnerable adults.
Ineffective practice must be challenged. There may be many different reasons why it has happens, but each case must be fully investigated to ascertain what has occurred. This could come in the form of a compliant or a safeguarding alert, ot be a result of a whistle blowing or even that you observe, everything must be document4eed according to your own service’s policies. It might also be appropriate to record on a supervision record in a staff file, depending on the mature of ineffective practise. As well as the potential for a safeguarding alert, a situation could also end up as a staff disciplinary action; therefore accurate recording it vital. Should practice need to be challenged, approach the situation in an assertive manner and consider the following areas, are you clear about the facts of the situation, what policies and procedures guide the practice in question, has adequate training been delivered and are there any other factors that led to the poor practice.
Improvements needs to be made to allow vulnerable people to know what to do should they suffer any form of abuse, in order to ensure that adequate support is available to enable improvements to be actioned. To ensure that a client’s rights are fully protected, there are areas that required improving by organisations. Organisations need to continue to ensure that staff are made aware of indictors of abuse and monitor closely the evidence. Awareness of adult safeguarding and knowing what to do in a safeguarding situation can be improved through experience. If staffs are to be equipped to deal effectively with an adult safeguarding situation, they must be appropriately trained.
Improvement is required to ensure that all staff are trained appropriately in vulnerable adults protection procedures, that all relevant policies and procedures are updated and implemented effectively. Also ensuring that staff are proactive in the promotion of the safeguarding process to clients and relative; while arrangements for working with other organisations were in pace, the internal arrangements an communication with relatives and clients requires improvement in relation to the types and levels of information of which is provided to them. Both clients and relative should be consulted and involved heavily more with regards to decisions arising a safeguarding alert in relation to a client care.
