Safeguarding adults protocol: pressure ulcers and the interface with a safeguarding enquiry

This guidance from the Chief Social Worker helps practitioners and managers across health and care organisations to provide caring and quick responses to people at risk of developing pressure ulcers.

Making Safeguarding Personal What might ‘good’ look like for health and social care commissioners and providers?

Commissioners and providers across the health and social care sectors play a critical part in safeguarding adults, both on the front line and at a strategic level, as partners on safeguarding adults boards.

This resource is intended to support the joined up development of Making Safeguarding Personal across providers and commissioners in health and social care. The essential links between safeguarding and quality in delivering services must be emphasised.

Royal College of Psychiatrists response to CQC report into how people are cared for when detained under the Mental Health Act

Registrar of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Dr Adrian James said:
“The Royal College of Psychiatrists welcomes all attempts to safeguard the human rights of our patients. Better access to services across all levels of care will ensure that patients are cared for in the least restrictive environment and that effective care is given at the right time and in the right place. The report highlights many areas of good practice where mental health teams work positively with patients but support is needed to eradicate out of area placements - a key recommendation of Lord Crisp’s report on acute psychiatric care. However, in order to ensure full implementation across all areas it is essential that we train more mental health workers, including psychiatrists." Click here for RCPsych press release

Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC), Annual Report, England 2016-17

Safeguarding Adults, Annual Report, England 2016/17 has been published by NHS Digital. It provides details of how many safeguarding concerns were raised during the year, how many safeguarding enquiries were started and how many were completed within that year under Section 42 of the Care Act 2014.

Guidance for mental health services in exercising duties to safeguard people from the risk of radicalisation

This guidance is designed to support providers and staff to exercise their statutory and professional duties to safeguard vulnerable adults, children and young people at risk of radicalisation. It is particularly aimed at staff working in NHS mental health services.Click here for link to guidance

NIHR Signal Simple preventive actions by parents linked to fewer child injuries

Education is promoted as a way to tackle the scale of avoidable injuries to young children. Children have two to five times the risk of an accident leading to injury if a parent leaves them on a raised surface, places hot drinks within reach, or does not put medicines away straight after use.
For example, children are also more than twice as likely to attend hospital for falling on stairs if their parent leaves stair gates open or does not use them.


From the NIHR Dissemination Centre

Prevent Training and Competencies Framework

This document is to support organisations in determining the level of Prevent training and the competencies that are required for staff in the health sector.

Deprivation of liberty safeguards

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were introduced into the Mental Capacity Act by the Mental Health Act 2007. This briefing from the House of Commons Library describes recent and proposed changes, including the Law Commission review.

New guidance on radiological investigations of suspected child abuse

The guidance, entitled “The Radiological Investigation of Physical Abuse in Children”, has been jointly produced by The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR), with input and endorsement from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).

It revamps initial guidance from 2008 and incorporates new evidence on child imaging techniques and follow-up protocols, as well as a series of new procedural templates to help radiologists, radiographers and referring paediatricians.

Practical guidance on sharing of information and information governance for all NHS organisations specifically for Prevent and the Channel process

This guidance from NHS England is intended to assist those involved in information sharing and information governance for the purpose of Prevent, a counter-terrorism safeguarding programme. It is designed to assist in the decision making process about the appropriateness of sharing information (particularly sensitive health information) such as the decisions made by Caldicott Guardians.

Deprivation of Liberty in the Rehabilitation Setting

Position statement from the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine on the Deprivation of Liberty in the Rehabilitation Setting.

SafeguardingPlus - new information for anaesthetists

The Royal College of Anaesthetists has launched SafeguardingPlus – a new resource of peer-reviewed education and information to provide advice for anaesthetists on how to identify, manage and prevent harm in patients and improve understanding of consent and ethical issues.

How safe are our children? 2017: The most comprehensive overview of child protection in the UK

This NSPCC report compiles and analyses the most robust and up-to-date child protection data that exists across the 4 nations in the UK for 2017.

The report sets out 20 different indicators. Each indicator looks at the question of 'how safe are our children?' from a different perspective. They also include historic data, to help track progress over time.

Preventing Violence, Promoting Peace A Policy Toolkit for Preventing Interpersonal, Collective and Extremist Violence

A policy tool kit for addressing interpersonal, collective and extremist violence brings together evidence on the prevention of all types of violence including interpersonal violence (child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, elder abuse and youth violence), collective violence (including war and gang violence) and violent extremism. It focuses largely on how to prevent individuals and groups from developing violent behaviours rather than the costly process of dealing with violence and its consequences.

Law Commission reveals Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards replacement

The Law Commission has delivered its final recommendations to ministers on replacing the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, after concluding the current system is “in crisis”.

The government asked the commission to review the DoLS amid concerns councils were failing to cope with a tenfold rise in deprivation of liberty cases triggered by the Supreme Court’s landmark ‘Cheshire West’ ruling in March 2014.

The commission has now published its final report and draft legislation for a new system to authorise care placements involving deprivation of liberty for people lacking capacity. The commission believes its proposed Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) scheme will be less onerous than the DoLS while still offering human rights protections.

Social workers issued guidance on coercive control

Social workers have been issued guidance on safeguarding people who are victims of controlling and coercive behaviour.

The Department of Health has funded a set of tools to help practitioners respond to the issue, which experts say underpins domestic abuse and can be a heightened risk among people with care and support needs.

How the DoLS can give voice to people with minimal consciousness

Advocate Jakki Cowley reflects on three cases highlighting the value of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards for people with little consciousness

Guidance on safeguarding children and information protection

NHS England has clarified the relevant guidance on sharing child protection information in the NHS standard contract 2017/19.

Child Protection Information Sharing (CP-IS) is included in the NHS Standard Contract 2017/19 and this guidance offers support to the Designated Professional Safeguarding Children system leadership (see below).

“The Provider must co-operate fully and liaise appropriately with third party providers of social care services in relation to, and must itself take all reasonable steps towards, the implementation of the Child Protection Information Sharing Project.”(NHS Standard Contract, 2017/19, SC32.8 page 35)

Female genital mutilation: RCN guidance for sexual health care

The publication Female Genital Mutilation: An RCN Resource for Nursing and Midwifery Practice (RCN, 2016) provides detailed information on aspects of FGM. With advances in understanding and updated legislation, there is a need for more specific support for those working in some defined areas of health care practice. 

As a result, this publication acts as a supplement and focuses on those professionals working in sexual health care services, such as sexual health clinics, genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics and children services.

Safeguarding women and girls at risk of FGM

Practical help to support NHS organisations developing new safeguarding policies and procedures for female genital mutilation (FGM).