Safeguarding In Health And Social Care Essay

Health and social care professionals encounter a diverse amount of individuals who have different needs and preferences regarding their health. As professionals they must ensure that all services users, whether it is older people with dementia, an infant with physical disabilities or an adult with an eating disorder (National Minimum Data Set for Social Care, [no date]), are treated in a way that will successfully meet such needs. In fact, health and social care professionals have a ‘duty of care’ towards services users, as well as other workers, in which they must legally promote the wellbeing of individuals and protect them against harm, abuse and injury. (The Care Certificate Workbook Standard 3, [no date]) Duty of care is a legal requirement

that falls under legislations like The Care Act (2014) and must be followed by all health and social care professionals. (Peteiro et al, 2017) Making sure that services users are protected from harm, abuse and injury can be placed under the umbrella term of safeguarding individuals.

Safeguarding may be described as ‘protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect.’ (Care Quality Commission, c2018) Safeguarding is relevant to service users because it ensures that they will receive essential and effective treatment by having their needs valued. Safeguarding ‘recognises that an individual’s unique needs, preferences and views must be the focus of all care and support that is planned for and provided.’ (Peteiro et al, 2017: pg. 44) For service users, this means that their personal needs will be prioritised within a health or social care setting and their views and opinions- about their health- will be genuinely considered resulting in them receiving treatment that will be best beneficial for them. Moreover, safeguarding intends to protect service users from harm, neglect, and abuse whenever they are in a health and social care setting. This may be done by making sure all services are accessible to those with disabilities, perhaps individuals who are wheelchair bound, or by making sure all long-term or overnight patients receive the appropriate amount of

meals. Health and social care practitioners not only safeguard against harm but they also promote the health and wellbeing of individuals. In order to achieve this, practitioners need to remain up to date as well as have an adequate understanding of legislations that relate to safeguarding. (Peteiro et al, 2017) This is important because it guarantees that practitioners will be able to apply legislations to their daily work responsibilities in ways that are favourable to service users. Additionally, health and social are practitioners can promote the wellbeing and health of service users by following the policies and procedures specific to their organisation. This will make sure they know how to report any concerns of harm or abuse they may have with their patients while also being aware of what actions should be taken in different situations.
Policies and procedures are created to help bring order in organizations. Policy can be defined as a ‘document explaining the expected standards’ of an organization according to (Moonie et al, 2010: p. 106) and may be used on a local or national scale. While a procedure describes what actions and methods will be used in order for an organization to meets its legal requirements, but can also be national or local. (Peteiro et al, 2017) In regards to safeguarding, there are many policies and procedures that have been created to promote the safety and prevent harm or damage to individuals that health and social care professionals are expected to follow. Also, under The Care Act 2014 it is a legal requirement for organisations to have safeguarding policies in place if they are working with adults who are at risk. (Peteiro et al, 2017) An example of a safeguarding policy can be found in the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s code of conduct The Code which outlines the standards of practices and behaviours that nurses and midwives have to follow. In the document it states ‘Act without delay if you believe that there is risk to patient safety or public protection.’ (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2015: p. 12) This policy safeguards against individuals because it gives professionals the right to act if they sense that a patient may be in danger for the purpose of preventing the individual from receiving any additional harm or stopping them from being hurt all together. The Royal Free London hospital also has multiple procedures in place geared towards the safeguarding of vulnerable children. For instance, one of their procedures is to have a ‘proactive safeguarding children team.’ (https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/about-us/corporate-information-and-accountability/safeguarding-children-and-adults/) A procedure such as this will make sure that children are protected against harm and danger in a way that is unique to their needs. Since children and adults have different health requirements, it is important for them to have separate safeguarding teams that are specific to them to make sure they receive appropriate care.
Furthermore, it is important for organizations to have safeguarding policies and procedure in place in order to provide high quality care to service users. Health and social care practitioners also do this by taking on a person-centred approach when working with service users. Person-centred care (PCC) is a way of provide health care where the patient’s needs, preferences and views are the focus of any care, support and planning they receive. (Peteiro et al, 2017) In other words, person-centred care ‘means that the person is an equal partner in the planning of care.’ (http://rcnhca.org.uk/sample-page/what-person-centred-care-means/) This means that the professional will not make independent decisions about an individual’s health care, but will work coincide with the service user to produce quality care that will be most effective. For example, a patient is due to have a tuberculin skin test (TST), but they are aware that it will come back positive because they have previously had a Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin (BCG) vaccine. According to the Centres for Disease control and prevention, a BCG vaccine may produce a false-positive reaction to the TST. (https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bcg.htm) The patient will inform their health care professional about this, and instead of going through with procedure the professional should recommend an alternative procedure, such as a chest x-ray, for patient to receive more accurate results. This is an example of person-centred care because in this instance the patient knew that the general TST would bring incorrect results and would not be as beneficial as another procedure; the practitioner took heed to the patient’s preference and was able to offer them a better approach. PCC values individuals and ‘acknowledges their capacity for self-actualisation.’ (Older People: Issues and innovations in care) Meaning that, professionals understand that service users know themselves the best and will be able to determine what care will be more useful for them. In regards to safeguarding, a person-centred approach is important because it gives individuals a sense of control over their health care and keeps them aware of the quality of care they should receive and their rights to be kept safe and protected against harm, abuse or neglect. (Peteiro et al, 2017) As a result, there will most likely be a reduced possibility of individuals being harmed or neglected within a health and social care setting. (Peteiro et al, 2017)
On another note, many safeguarding policies and procedures have been derived from multiple legislations that the government has passed.

Legislations are laws derived from current government policies and outlines rules and principles that everybody must follow. (Peteiro et al, 2017) There are multiple, current, legalisation that have been created in regards to the safeguarding of children and adults. The Data Protection Act of 1998, for instance, was created as a way to control how organisations use personal information. In a health and social care setting, the Data protection act ensures that personal information about individuals will be kept confidential and not misused. The act gives service users the right to determine how their personal data is used and who it is used by to prevent the risk of the information not being private and being put at risk for abuse. (Peteiro et al, 2017) This includes things such as date of birth, national insurance number and medical history. If certain personal information is not protected, then it puts the individual at risk of harm, or abuse. The Data Protection Act safeguards individuals against this. Similarly, The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 safeguards against children and adults by ensuring that only appropriate persons are allowed to work with certain groups. This act created the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) who deal with criminal record checks and overlooks the Barred Children’s and Barred Adult’s Lists of unsuitable

people who should not work with these groups. ‘The DBS decides who is unsuitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable groups…’ (GOV.UK). this is done by checking an individual’s criminal records and background for signs that indicate if they will be a risk or not, to others. DBS checks are important because it protects individuals who have a higher susceptibility to harm, from other people who may be a threat to them; it guarantees safety and security within different environments, including health and social care settings. For example, in order for someone to volunteer with children they will have to complete an updated DBS check in order to make sure they are eligible to work without posing any risk of harm to the kids. If said person is found unsuitable for this work, they legally will not be allowed to volunteer or work with children in this environment. (https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/disclosure-and-barring-protecting-children-and-vulnerable-adults) The Care Act 2014 is another legislation that relates to safeguarding, but is more geared towards adults in particular. The Care Act 2014 was made to improve the ‘legal basis for adult care and support in England’, (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2014/407/pdfs/ukia_20140407_en.pdf) and with the intentions of enhancing the overall care experience and using community resources effectively by making services more personalised and allowing individuals to have more control over their care. (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2014/407/pdfs/ukia_20140407_en.pdf) Billingham et al (2016) states that ‘The Care Act 2014 replaces ‘No Secrets’ guidance (Department of Health, 2000) and makes safeguarding adults a statutory duty.’ This act not only values the person-centred care approach that was mentioned earlier, but it also recognises the needs of carers to ensure they provide quality care. (Billingham et al., 2016) In a health and social care setting, this act contributes to the safeguarding of adults by making it a legal obligation for professional to protect them from any risk of harm, abuse and neglect, and to promote their health and wellbeing by ensuring their needs are met. It reinforces the idea that practitioners not only have a duty of care towards children but for adults as well. In essence, safeguarding legislations establish general standards that will guarantee the safety of service users, and promote their health and wellbeing in multiple ways.