Safeguarding Toolkit for Adult Care Providers Standard 11

Some suggested safeguarding questions to consider including in your annual survey:

• Did the staff member ask for your consent before making the safeguarding referral?
• Were your expressed wishes taken into consideration including what outcome you wanted from the safeguarding concern?
• Were you kept safe through this process?
• Were you offered support through the enquiry, in addition to any legal rights to advocacy?
• Did you receive feedback and were any changes made in response?
• Could anything have been done differently to make your experience better?

The service could also ask questions such as:

• Do you understand what constitutes abuse or neglect?
• Do you know how to report suspected abuse / neglect?
• Were there any issues/ incidents during the year that you felt should have been reported but you did not feel able to do so?

Whilst it can be helpful to use closed questions (Yes / No answers) it could also be helpful to include a drop-down list / multiple choice to get more detail as well as including the option for free comments.

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that lets an adult (the donor) appoint one or more people (known as attorneys) to help them make decisions or to make decisions on their behalf. This gives the person more control over what happens to them if they have an accident or an illness and cannot make their own decisions i.e. they lack mental capacity.

There are two types of LPA deputy.

1. Property and financial affairs deputy which gives permission to pay the person’s bills or organise their pension.
2. Personal welfare deputy which gives permission to make decisions about medical treatment and how someone is looked after.  You cannot become someone’s personal welfare deputy if they are under 16.

You can find out if someone has an attorney or deputy acting for them by completing a form on the gov.uk website.

A Property and Financial Affairs LPA does not confer the right to make decisions about a person’s health and welfare.

Staff must ensure that there is a copy of the documentation on the person’s file, as without this, decision making may differ.

You need to highlight that everyone has the right to live safely, free form abuse and neglect and also explain that abuse and/or neglect can occur in all environments including your own service.

The person can be living in their own home or in a care setting. You should consider explaining that the person causing harm could be someone they live with, a relative, a stranger or a care professional.

The information you provide about abuse / neglect needs to be accessible, in the person’s preferred format and should include:

Information about different types of abuse / neglect – with descriptions.  Examples given below.

Sexual abuse can include (among other things)

• Inappropriate looking or touching
• Indecent exposure

Physical abuse can include

• being hit, slapped, pushed or restrained
• being denied food or fluids

Psychological abuse can include

• an unreasonable and unjustified withdrawal of services or support networks
• humiliating, blaming, controlling, intimidating or harassing you
• verbal abuse

Domestic abuse can include

This is typically an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse by someone who is, or has been, an intimate partner or family member.

Discriminatory abuse can include

This includes some forms of harassment, unfair treatment because of:

• race
• sex
• gender and gender identity
• age
• disability

Financial Abuse can include

• This could be someone taking your money without asking or other valuables from you. Someone might be someone appointed to look after your money on your behalf but be using it inappropriately or coercing you to spend it in a way you're not happy with.

Neglect can include

• Not being provided with enough food or with the right kind of food, or not being taken proper care of. You may be left without help to be washed if changed.

Care providers need to be clear about their internal processes and what support they offer the individual when they want to raise a safeguarding concern e.g. an advocate.

You should highlight to the individual that they need to tell someone they trust as soon as possible, this could be a GP, social worker etc

If the individual believes there is a crime (whether physical or financial) you should contact the police or get support to do so.

It may be helpful to give some top tips about what information makes a good referral to help the individual:

• Name, address, telephone number
• A clear description of what happened.
• When it happened.
• Who was involved?
• Where did it take place?
• Where there any witnesses?
• It may be helpful to give the details of the perpetrator but do not contact the perpetrator yourself.
• Tell them to include the outcome they would like – what do they want to happen as a result of raising the concern.
• Add contact details of MASH for making the referral

If you are concerned about an adult with care and support needs, who is at risk of/ or is being abused or neglected and is unable to protect themselves or suspect someone else is, you need to report it.

Report a safeguarding concern