Safeguarding Adults
Bexley Care Trust is committed to ensuring that those people who are most vulnerable are kept safe from abuse. We work together with other agencies to prevent abuse, exploitation or neglect wherever possible.
We want to make sure that everybody knows how to recognise what abuse is, what to do about it and how to report it to the right people. We want to give staff the knowledge, skills and resources to enable them to respond quickly and appropriately.
It is also important that members of the public, including people who may be subject to abuse themselves, are aware of how to report concerns. Any concerns about an adult who may be being abused should be alerted to the London Borough of Bexley Safeguarding Team (full details can be accessed via the link at the bottom of the page).
Department of Health Guidance
‘No Secrets: Guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency
policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse'
was published by the Department of Health in 2000. The guidance placed the responsibility for co-ordination of safeguarding adults activities with local authorities in partnership with other agencies.
The national and local profile of safeguarding vulnerable adults has
steadily risen since this document was published. You can download the Department of Health document via the right hand link
Preventing Abuse
There is now a greater acknowledgment that abuse can occur in health and
social care settings, as well as in people’s own homes.
In some cases this abuse may be carried out by health or social care professionals, as well as by family and friends. There is a growing emphasis on preventing abuse wherever possible,
and a greater recognition that all individuals and organisations have a responsibility to safeguard vulnerable adults from abuse.
There is significant further work to be done to ensure that safeguarding adults becomes “everybody’s business”.
Changes to the law
Since the No Secrets guidance was published there have been a number of relant policy and legal changes relating to adult health and social care outlined below:
National framework of standards in Adult Safeguarding
This was issued by the Association of Directors of Social Services in 2005.
The guidance has been used to inform a programme of inspections of safeguarding arrangements within adult social services.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005
This act introduced a new legal framework for protecting the welfare and finances
of vulnerable adults who lack mental capacity> It also introduced a new crime of neglecting or ill treating a person who lacks mental capacity
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
This act will create a new centralised Independent Safeguarding Authority that will make decisions on barring individuals from working with vulnerable adults.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards introduced into the Mental Capacity Act (2005) through the Mental Health Act 2007 (enacted April 2009) ensure that
vulnerable adults who lack mental capacity - who are living in a care home or
hospital - are not subject to restraint or infringement of their liberty without an assessment of their circumstances.
Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board
We have well established multi-agency policies and procedures in place.
Bexley’s Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board meets on a regular basis to ensure all partners are engaged and involved in an annual work programme.
Safeguarding Adults training is delivered to members of staff across the full range of organisations, including staff from Bexley Care Trust. Safeguarding Adults training is included as part of our mandatory staff training requirements.
Further information about Safeguarding Adults, including Bexley’s alerting procedures can be found on the London Borough of Bexley website via the link on the right hand side.
This includes information for the public; if you feel you are vulnerable and someone is treating you badly, are afraid to speak out about what is happening to you; or are worried that someone you know is at risk of harm or mistreatment.
Contact us
If you would like more information about Bexley Care Trust's arrangements for safeguarding adults in our care, contact the Assistant Director of Public Health & Safeguarding Adults Lead.
Email: peter.buck@bexley.nhs.uk
Tel: 020 8298 6175
