Safeguarding involves working with adults at risk to protect their right to live in safety, free from abuse, harm and neglect.
Safeguarding balances the right to be safe with the right to make informed choices. It supports the individual’s right to retain independence, wellbeing and choice, making sure that basic needs such as security, nutrition and hydration are met.

In your role you should always promote the individual’s wellbeing.
It is important that everybody (e.g. professionals, family members, carers and key individuals) work in partnership to stop abuse and neglect wherever possible. This includes preventing harm and reducing the risk of abuse or neglect to adults with care and support needs.

Wellbeing revolves around the following factors;

Radicalisation is not defined as a category of abuse but it is recognised to be comparable to other forms or exploitation, such as grooming and sexual exploitation.

Radicalisation is the process by which a person is:

Persuaded to hold extremist views, and
Recruited into extremist groups
Radicalisation can be both violent and non-violent. It can occur over a long time, during religious or group meetings, within family settings or more typically through social media and internet chat rooms.

Harm is defined as physical or mental damage or injury, something that causes someone (or something) to be hurt, broken, made less valuable or successful.

ndividuals with a sensory impairment, for example, poor or no hearing or sight might lead to communication difficulties.
Individuals may lack the capacity to understand what is happening or that it is wrong. Lack of capacity could be for a number of different reasons and could be long term or short term.

Restrictive practice includes physical restraint or the use of devices, medication or seclusion and must always be legally and ethically justified.
This means it must only ever be used when it is absolutely necessary to prevent serious harm and it must be the least restrictive option.

In some settings or situations you may need to provide care and support that involves some form or restrictive practice. If restrictive practice is used inappropriately, it will almost certainly be a breach of the individual’s human rights.

With all types of abuse, it is essential to look for possible indicators or abnormal and different behaviour.
If a person is worried or has been abused, they are likely to behave differently to how they would normally behave. This is why it is useful to know or have information about how individuals normally behave so you can identify when something might not be right.

As you build relationships and knowledge in your role, the possible indicators associated with abuse will become more noticeable. In order to recognise and respond to abuse and neglect, you have to know these and take notice of them.

“Perpetrate” means to carry out or commit an act.
Harm will always produce a negative result in an individual showing as one or more characteristics like mood swings, loss of appetite, fear, becoming withdrawn. Abuse can change a victim’s life and prevent them from being able to live as they wish.

Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs)
SABs, set up by local authorities, must arrange a Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) when an adult dies as a result of abuse or neglect, whether known or suspected, and there is suspicion that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect the adult.

If you have been around for some time, a SAR was previously called a “serious case review”.

SABs must arrange a SAR if an adult in their area, who has not died, is known or suspected to have experienced serious abuse or neglect. SABs can also arrange a SAR in any other situation involving an adult that has needs for care and support.

Demonstrate the importance of ensuring individuals are treated with dignity and respect when providing health and care services.
Supporting dignity and respect is not an additional task for anyone working in health and social care because it should be a natural part of your role. It is important to ensure that individuals feel valued and that their wellbeing is at the centre of the care and support you provide.

Describe where to get information and advice about your role and responsibilities in preventing and protecting individuals from harm and abuse.
Your role is to prevent individuals from harm and abuse and to protect them.

If you are suspicious – always take action!

So you can respond appropriately where abuse or neglect may be suspected or taking place, you must understand your own role and responsibility and have access to practical and legal guidance, advice and support. This will include understanding your local inter-agency policies and procedures.

These are some of the ways health and social care environments can undermine people’s dignity and rights. This will have a negative effect on them:
Lack of private space. For example, for confidential discussions or personal care.
Poor culture of care and attitudes.
Language differences and barriers.
Lack of holistic, person centred support.
Poor prioritisation of individuals’ care and support needs.
Overcrowded wards and mixed-sex accommodation.
Inadequate and unsuitable facilities.
Under-staffing, inadequate staff/individual ratios resulting in mixed skill levels and lack of time to provide individualised care and support.

Keeping a person at the centre of everything we do is called Person-Centred Care.
It means that care is focused on meeting their individual needs and wishes. Each person is different, which is why we call them individuals. Each person has a different set of beliefs and desires.

If you use a ‘one size fits all’ approach, it is impossible to make everybody happy. In some cases it provides the wrong type of care for an individual, which is discriminatory and therefore abuse.

Quite often a person will be scared to speak up or admit that they are being abused.
Some adults are less able to protect themselves than others and some have difficulty making their wishes and feelings known.

Building trust and good relationships with the people you support may help them feel that they can speak to you. This takes strong communication skills and working with the individual to understand their preferred communication methods. Be observant to changes in an individual’s behaviour, moods and body language.

You need to understand the local arrangements in place for multi-agency Safeguarding policies and procedures.
Multi-agency policies and procedures are aimed at different agencies and people involved in safeguarding adults, including managers, professionals, volunteers and staff working in public, voluntary and private sector organisations. This includes NHS, police, social services, charities and care providers.

Despite regional variations, safeguarding policies and procedures incorporate the same principles and values, and provide guidance on how organisations can work together to protect individuals at risk.

List ways in which the likelihood of abuse can be reduced by managing risk and focusing on prevention.
If everyone has a clear understanding about what abuse is, it will encourage more people to speak up if they feel abuse is taking or has taken place. This will reduce the likelihood of abuse actually taking place or repeating.

Good management and knowledgeable staff using person-centred values, promoting empowerment, managing risk and prevention, will all help reduce the likelihood of abuse.

Every employer must have a procedure in place for raising any concerns or a complaint about abuse.
This must be a simple process that encourages people to raise concerns, however small they might appear to be. Complaints are very important as they often lead to an improvement in the service provided and reduce or remove the likelihood of abuse taking place or repeating.

Your local authority’s “multi agency policy and procedures for safeguarding adults at risk from abuse” will contain the appropriate guidance which you should follow if you suspect someone is being or has been abused. If you do not work for a local authority, you should consult your own employer’s procedures and ask your manager for support and guidance.

Everybody working with adults at risk and children has to complete a criminal record check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
The DBS help employers to make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable people.

Sharing Information
Sharing information at an early stage with relevant agencies can help protect people from harm and abuse. Effective partnership and integrated working with appropriate information sharing can prevent problems escalating and increase the chances of achieving positive outcomes.

Information sharing is key to delivering better and more effective services that are focused on the individual’s needs.

It is essential for safeguarding and promoting wellbeing and a vital element in early intervention and preventative work. It improves outcomes for everyone involved.

Describe the actions to take if you experience barriers in alerting or referring to relevant agencies.
When abuse or neglect has taken place, it needs to be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Information about the safety and welfare of an individual must be shared with your manager immediately.

It is important that you also take the matter further if management has failed to deal with it. This is a barrier that you might experience when trying to help and support an individual. You could ask your manager if there is an update on the situation, to check if action is being taken.

You may also find that working with multiple agencies acts as a barrier if concerns are not taken seriously. If this happens, one option is to report it to the next level of management, for example, the head of your organisation. They will be able take appropriate action.