Safeguarding information for professionals
All people who work with vulnerable adults have a duty to
protect them from abuse and to report all incidents, concerns or
suspicions of abuse or neglect.
All statutory, voluntary and private agencies
in Tower Hamlets should be committed to ensure that people who are
victims of abuse will receive support and protection from further
abuse.
When concerns, allegations or incidents come to light, it must
be reported and “staff” must ensure that the alleged “victim” is
safe. This may involve the emergency services if the victim has
been injured.
Discussions will then take place between the relevant agencies
to decide on the most appropriate support and protection. All
reports of abuse are closely monitored by the Safeguarding
Adults Team to ensure that procedures are followed.
Remember:
- if you are unsure report it!
- the expert will help
- the abuser may be a family member, friend, medical or social
care professional, carer, another resident or anyone else
Download information
and guidelines (PDF, 55K) to help you identify if and what type
of abuse might be taking place.
Download the Safeguarding
Adults Information Sharing Protocol ( 119kb)
The Safeguarding and MCA Liaison Service
The team consists of a safeguarding adults co-ordinator, two
safeguarding adults officers and a team administrator based at:
Romm 2.4
2nd Floor, Gladstone Place
1 Ewart Place
London, E3 5EQ
Phone number: 020 7364 2019
Fax: 020 7364 2277
You can contact us for advice and guidance by emailing adultsafeguarding@towerhamlets.gov.uk
The main roles and responsibility of the team are to:
- ensure the safety of those deemed to be vulnerable adults
- develop practice, guidance, procedures in relation to
safeguarding vulnerable adults
- implement a monitoring tool to ensure all cases are dealt with
in a robust manner
- facilitate multi agency working in the area of adult
abuse
- establish and maintain partnership working with a variety of
statutory and non-statutory agencies
- ensure a comprehensive training strategy is developed and
implemented
- ensure all staff working with vulnerable adults receive
appropriate training on safeguarding adults
- download information
on courses and how to access training (PDF, 31K)
- raise the public awareness of the abuse of vulnerable adults
both locally and nationally
- consult with, support, guide and advise professionals in their
task of ensuring vulnerable adults are safe and also about what to
do when abuse is suspected
Frequently asked questions on safeguarding adults
What is a safeguarding concern?
Are the safeguarding adults procedures only for social care or
local authority staff to follow?
No. Any one (all health and social care staff, the person
themselves, family carers, members of public etc) who is concerned
a person appearing vulnerable is at risk of significant harm should
consider making an alert to start the use of these
procedures.
If the person concerned is not known to Social Services or a CMHT,
this process is started by phoning, or sending an alert form to the
local authority (see contact details below). The procedures
for adults are different to those of children, as the local
authority safeguarding team for adults does not hold a case load or
investigate. They give advice, assist with communication between
teams and monitor referrals. The social care team however may take
on the case if the person is not known to another service.
Hackney
Access Team Adults Social Care
Tel: 020 8356 6262
Fax: 020 8356 4638
Email: access@hackney.gov.uk
Tower Hamlets
Adult Care Team Tel: 020 7364 5005
Fax: 020 7364 3860
Email: adultscare@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Newham
Contact Centre 8430 2000/safeguarding adults team 020 3373
1175
Email: SafeguardingAdultadmin@newham.gov.uk
What are the thresholds for the safeguarding adults
procedures?
It has been agreed nationally that following the safeguarding
adults procedures is a requirement of staff throughout the health
services. Thresholds for mental health services are now being
developed by the Trust in line with national and local standards.
DH guidance No Secrets gives the threshold as follows:-
a person who is vulnerable and has suffered or is at risk of
suffering significant harm from abuse or neglect by another person,
and intervention is required in the person best interests or in the
public interest.
What should I do if the person meets the criteria for the
procedures, and is known to my team?
You should still complete the referral form and then record all
additional information on subsequent forms. These forms should be
send to the safeguarding team for monitoring purposes. Note that at
present there are different procedures and forms for each borough,
but this may change in future.
What happens if the service user tells you they have been
abused but does not want to take the concern any further?
This is very common. People in these situations often have a
sense of loyalty to the person who abused them where they are a
family member. Alternatively they may be fearful of any reprisals.
If a person discloses abuse, then it is necessary to let them know
you need to discuss it with your manager and then get back to them
with what the manager has suggested. The important thing is that no
action will be taken without speaking to them first and also to get
back to them promptly with any information you have found - for
minimising future risk and to give contact details for support
services. Concentrate on how they can be as safe as possible in the
interim. By doing this you show you believe what they are saying
and you take the issue of abuse very seriously.
There are some exceptions in cases where you are advised to take
actions without the person’s agreement - and you need to read the
safeguarding adults procedures for more detail. This is usually
when a person is assessed not to have the mental capacity to make
these decisions, or where there is a risk to the public or other
vulnerable person.
If a vulnerable person hits another vulnerable person on a
hospital ward, isn’t this covered under usual ward procedures?
It might be. This depends on whether this is likely a one off
incident or whether there is a longer term bullying type
relationship problem developing, If there is likely to remain a
risk of future harm to one person, then the procedures should be
considered by the manager and a decision with reason recorded on
the notes of each of those involved.
Do I need to complete the forms for every possible safeguarding
case?
Recording any details about abuse or neglect is very important.
The alert form should be completed in all cases meeting the
thresholds and then the team manager decision as to why it is not
necessary to proceed further with a safeguarding investigation.
Such reasons may be - if the person no longer has contact with the
perpetrator or has capacity to decide and does not want the
investigation taken further. These forms will be able to contribute
to risk assessments when identifying patterns eg incidents
occurring on the same day/time or escalating violence over
time.
What happens of the decision is to follow the safeguarding
adults procedure?
How do I find the forms and where do I send them?
If the person is known the mental health services the form
should be passed to the CMHT for the managers attention.
If the person is not known to Trust services you can refer to
the appropriate local authority.
City of London
When completed it should be sent by fax or by secure email. The.
eastlondon.nhs.uk email system is secure internally, but the
nhs.net email should be used to correspond with other agencies.
Secure email always have additional digits in the address –
this is usually ‘gsi’ for local government and ‘pnn’ for
police.
Once I have sent the alert form to the local authority, what
happens next?
The safeguarding team will check their system to see if the
person is already known to the local authority services, and if so
inform the manager of this team of the alert. If the person is not
known to their services, they will contact the appropriate manager
within the Trust (usually the CMHT manager) who will take
responsibility for gathering information and making a decision
about if and how to proceed.
How do safeguarding adults concerns get resolved?
What is a protection/safety plan?
All agencies involved will meet to consider what actions they
can take to minimise the risk of future harm to the vulnerable
person. The plan is drawn up at this meeting and will be reviewed
to see how it is working.
The sorts of actions could be:
- Police to interview or arrest the alleged perpetrator,
- Housing to put a camera outside the door to the persons
home
- Person to change their mobile phone number & vary the
methods/times they travel to regular places
- Care co-ordinator to make application to Court of
Protection
What other services might be able to offer support in the
longer term?
Download the
contacts list which is updated regularly with various supports
for victims and for perpetrators.
If you have additional questions about the procedures, please
contact the appropriate safeguarding adults team direct.
For any other questions about safeguarding adults or domestic
abuse, contact your safeguarding adults manager or the lead
for the Trust, Janet Boorman, on 020 7655 4240.
Further Information
Pan London: Protecting adults at risk London multi-agency
policy and procedures to safeguard adults from abuse
The Council has adopted the Protecting adults
at risk: London multi-agency policy and procedures to safeguard
adults from abuse, frequently known as “Pan London”, and
this a key component of how the Directorate works to keep
people in vulnerable situations safe from abuse, harm or neglect,
and provides policy and procedure guidance for the teams with
safeguarding responsibilities.
Read
the Pan London policy and procedure
Read the Tower
Hamlets Safeguarding Adults process
Click to download the supporting forms that
are part of the procedure:
Additional guidance has also been produced to
support the Quality Assurance Audit Form known as 'Rules and
Guidance for Responsible Managers'.
Click to
download the Quality Assurance Audit Rules and Guidance for
Responsible Managers (PDF, 43.9K)
The agreed multi-agency standards, principles and policy remain
the same.
Please download Tower Hamlets Safeguarding Adults Information
Sharing Protocol (May 2010) that sets out the basis on which
organisations working in the public, private and third sectors,
legally share information to ensure the protection of vulnerable
adults.
Safeguarding Adults Annual Report 2007/08
The Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Reports give up
to date information on work done by the safeguarding adults
team.
‘No Secrets’ (2000)
The No Secrets is currently being reviewed and in consultation
process. It has provided guidance on developing and implementing
multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults
from abuse.
CSCI Safeguarding Adults
A study of the effectiveness of arrangements to safeguard
adults from abuse 2008.
CSCI Raising Voices
Views on Safeguarding 2008.
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults
National developments and good practice from Action on
Elder Abuse.
Other useful documentation:
Key partners