Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. It’s fundamental to high-quality health and social care. What safeguarding means for people who use care services • Safeguarding children and promoting their welfare includes:
- Protecting them from maltreatment or things that are bad for their health or development.
- Making sure they grow up in circumstances that allow safe and effective care.•
- Safeguarding adults includes:
- Protecting their rights to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect.
- People and organisations working together to prevent the risk of abuse or neglect, and to stop them from happening.
- Making sure people’s wellbeing is promoted, taking their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs into account.
We help to safeguard people by:
- Using information we receive (particularly when concerns are raised about abuse, harm or neglect) to look at the risks to people who use care services.
- Referring concerns to local councils and/or the police for further investigation.
- Carrying out inspections, where we talk to people who use services to help us identify safeguarding concerns.
- Publishing our findings on safeguarding in our inspection reports.
- Taking action if we find that care services do not have suitable arrangements to keep people safe.
- Working with partners such as the police, local councils, health agencies, other regulators and government departments.
- Taking part in multi-agency children’s safeguarding inspections to get a picture of children’s and young people’s experiences and how well they are being safeguarded.
Definition of adult safeguarding It is important to be clear about who the formal adult safeguarding process applies to.
The Care Act statutory guidance defines adult safeguarding as: ‘Protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect, while at the same time making sure that the adult’s wellbeing is promoted including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action. This must recognise that adults sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear or unrealistic about their personal circumstances.’
