Compliments and Complaints

Providing information to service users on Abuse

The manager will ensure people who use our service, their advocates, those lawfully acting on their behalf and those close to them are aware of our procedure and policy on abuse and are given appropriate information about the following:

• What the different forms of abuse are.
• How to recognise the signs of abuse.
• What they should do if they or another person are being abused or suspect abuse, including relevant contact details under the local safeguarding procedures.
• That they can raise a safeguarding concern with any member of staff and how this will be escalated through the service via the safeguarding lead and manager, with their permission, and as appropriate.
• What they might expect to happen when a referral is made under the local safeguarding adults’ procedures.
• How a safeguarding concern is appropriately shared in line with multi-agency procedures, taking into account the sensitive nature of the information.
• How we reassure people that safeguarding procedures are delivered in a way that protects people’s human rights, including their rights to life and not to be treated in an inhuman or degrading way.
• How staff who are required to use restrictive physical interventions have received specialist training.

The service will ensure people who use our service, their advocates, those lawfully acting on their behalf and those close to them have access to our safeguarding policy.

The service will make all such information available in a format suitable to the needs of people who use our service, their advocates, those lawfully acting on their behalf and those close to them.

Staff role and accountability in relation to abuse

All staff in our service have a responsibility to:

• Provide all Service Users with the best possible care following the care plan provided to guide this process.
• Desist from any abusive/harmful action in relation to Service Users.
• Report to the manager any act that they may consider to be abusive or harmful.
• Co-operate in the investigation of any incident or alleged incident of abuse.
• Undertake annual training on safeguarding and abuse.

Each member of staff in our service must be aware of the policy QP-65 Whistleblowing for reporting any type of abuse or circumstances that may lead to abuse.

Each member of staff in our service must be aware that if the abuse involves the management within the service, then the incident must be passed on to the next line manager or externally to the local authority.

Manager’s Responsibility

The manager of our service will have responsibility for:

• • Developing systems and structures within their service which ensure that the best possible care is delivered.
  • Encouraging a culture and ethos that does not tolerate any sort of abuse/harm.
  • Auditing and revising the services policies and procedures to prevent and deal with any abuse/harm.
  • Operating a robust recruitment and human resource policy that identifies and potentially excludes the recruitment of any potential or actual abusers.
  • Providing training at induction and annually thereafter for staff in all aspects of safeguarding, abuse/harm and protection including:

• • • Preventing abuse.
    • Recognising at risk individuals.
    • Identifying types of abuse.
    • Identifying the signs of different forms of abuse.
    • How to respond to abuse.
    • Where to report abuse.

• • Swiftly investigating any evidence of abuse/harm.
  • Supporting people who use our service, their advocates, those lawfully acting on their behalf and those close to them as well as staff members who are in the process of reporting actual or suspected abuse.
  • Learning from any incidents of safeguarding and implementing improvements to procedures and policies to effect changes to the service if any deficiencies in the way in which the service operates are identified.
  • Collaborating with all other relevant agencies in combating abuse/harm and improving the safeguarding and protection of Service Users.
• Liaising with the relevant local authority teams and following their guidance and instructions where applicable, including the issues arising from multi-agency involvement.
• The regular maintenance of care records audits (in addition to external checks, such as audits or Care Quality Commission inspections) and ensure that they are complete and available in case they are needed if a safeguarding concern is raised.

Acting on and reporting abuse

All allegations of abuse must be reported to the Social Service Safeguarding Team and a record kept by the manager of the date when the allegation was reported, and all subsequent actions taken.

Each member of staff in our service must be aware of the Whistleblowing policy, QP-65 and their responsibilities for reporting any type of abuse or circumstances that may lead to abuse.  Including if the abuse includes managers from the service.

Staff should be aware of situations which might cause actual or potential harm and use their best judgement to stop any further harm being perpetrated. Staff should seek help and support during any intervention.

Staff are supported to raise any concerns they have about the level of care being offered to an individual using our services, especially where they consider this might not meet the individual service user’s needs.

Where a Service User, or other adult, discloses allegations of abuse to a staff member, the staff member should listen to the person, but not interview them or commence an investigation. They should identify that they will have to report the abuse and seek permission to do so. They should right down the facts as reported to them, not adding any personal feelings or interpretations to the statement.

It is the responsibility of the manager to take immediate action to identify and stop any abuse, including separating the abuser from the abused person, this might be Service User to Service User or if a staff member, this may involve suspension or disciplinary procedures being invoked.

The manager must take additional action to provide further support, protection and care to a Service User who has been harmed.

A best interest’s decision may be made on behalf of a Service User who has been subject to harm. They may lack capacity and be unable to give their consent to the matter being reported. This will be carried out in line with Mental Capacity Procedures and will involve any power of attorney, court appointed guardian or advocate supporting the service user.

It is the responsibility of the Manager/Safeguarding Lead to discuss with any Service User who may have been abused or harmed, what type of action might be taken. The Service User may not want the matter to proceed with a referral being made to any authority. It is still the manager’s responsibility to seek advice from the safeguarding officer about appropriate course of action to take.

The Manager/Safeguarding Lead of the service will ensure that the Social Services Safeguarding Team is informed of the abuse according to local safeguarding procedures in place.

It is the responsibility of the manager to report any allegations or actual abuse to any power of attorney, court appointed guardian or advocate supporting the service user and where appropriate family members.

In some circumstances, the manager of the service will need to inform the police of the matter and take guidance from them on what measures need to be taken.

All aspects of the Service Users privacy and dignity will be protected at this time.

The Manager/Safeguarding Lead will take their lead from the Local Safeguarding Adults Board and attend strategy meetings when requested with other interested stakeholders to ensure that an action plan is in place to safeguard the Service User and prevent similar incidents occurring. This will be met following the timescales and direction of the Local Safeguarding Adults Board.

The Manager/Safeguarding Lead will contribute to actions required including sharing information and attending forums where experience and lessons learned can be shared with other providers.

The manager may seek specialist advice and support when addressing and managing an incident of abuse that has occurred.

Actions to be taken following an investigation

Following an investigation, where a member of staff is reasonably suspected to have caused harm or risk of harm to Service Users, they must be referred for inclusion on the Disclosure and Barring Service Register where the requirements for referral are met.

Other employment sanctions could apply depending on whether there might have been mitigating or extenuating circumstances. In some cases, retraining could be appropriate.

If bad practice involves a criminal or illegal act such as assault or sexual abuse, the Manager/Safeguarding Lead must report the matter to the police immediately. A strategy plan would be put in place to protect any individual Service Users or staff involved and fully documented to inform staff of their responsibilities.

The Service User and their family will be informed of any further outcomes, from the investigation and be consulted about any form of redress or apology being issued by the service.  The Duty of Candour will apply in such situations.

Support given to staff and users

As part of our supporting role, the manager should ensure that arrangements are put in place that enables staff and Service Users affected by the incident to access counselling services and supportive supervision if required.

Any allegation of abuse, harm or discrimination will be treated seriously. Service Users will be supported to express their concerns along with family members and supporters. Staff must not unlawfully victimise people who use services for making a complaint about discrimination.

People should be supported to take part in the safeguarding process to the extent to which they want or are able to, or to which the process allows and are kept informed of progress.

The Manager/Safeguarding Lead should ensure that people are made aware of, support and encourage the Service User to access, sources of support outside the service including local independent information advice, independent mental capacity advocacy services or independent mental health advocacy services where relevant.

As part of the service, the manager promotes a culture where people feel reassured that their care, treatment and support will not be compromised if they raise issues of abuse.

Records to be taken

At each stage of the process, accurate records of all actions will be recorded paying close attention to the sensitivity of the situation regarding the Service User and their family.

The manager of the service will keep all records relating to any safeguarding incident, separate from other records and in a confidential folder.

The manager will keep a record of all staff who have been made aware, read and understood our policy on safeguarding and abuse.

A record will be kept of all staff who have received safeguarding training. This training will be updated for all staff when due. The record will display to the services regulators the status of staff safeguarding training for compliance.

Learning from incidents of abuse

At the end of an incident involving possible or actual abuse/harm, the manager should carry out a review what has happened. The purpose of the review is to establish whether the service or its management has been in any way culpable, ineffective, or negligent. The lessons learnt should pave the way for how the service should operate in the future and passing on any appropriate information to other agencies.

If necessary, the service’s policies, procedures and training arrangements should be modified in response to any material that has emerged from the incident or the investigation. The service might carry this out with advice and guidance from the Local Safeguarding Adults’ Board or other specialist agency.

Who to Contact

The Care Quality Commission – who are responsible for the regulation of adult social and health care in England:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us · Phone: 03000 616161 · Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk Care Quality Commission Citygate Gallowgate Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4PA