Safeguarding and Protection of Vulnerable Adults

This report discusses the factors contributing to abuse and harm to elderly people, the impact of social and cultural factors on abuse, and the strengths and weaknesses of current legislations and policies. It also explores the role of professionals in protecting individuals and groups vulnerable to abuse.

SAFEGUARDING

INTRODUCTION
In this present world, there are many issues and conflicts related to safeguarding and
protection of elderly people. This present report has been framed in the context of safe
guarding and protection of vulnerable adults. It is an important issue in the current living era.
In this report the factors which are responsible for abuse or harm to old age people are
discussed (EURATOM and Renha Jr, 2010. ). Moreover, it has been discussed that there are
currently many elder people living in the country who are victims of abuse from their
children. In addition to this, there are certain other risk factors which are responsible for
abuse and harm. Also, there are some other social and cultural factors which impact on abuse
to self and others. Also, some other legislations and policies which lays down the rules and
regulations relating to protection of others. Their strengths and weaknesses are also discussed
in this present report. In order to protect people from various abuse and harm, certain
safeguarding issues are also discussed in this assignment.
TASK 1A
1.1Reasons for vulnerability to abuse and/or harm
Abuse can be simply explained as exploitation of a physical and mental appearance of
a person and other skills and capabilities for satisfying the needs of other people and also a
situation of exposed into abuse describe the word vulnerable. There are certain factors which
can contribute for making them vulnerable that are as:
Physical and biological disabilities: It cause people to be vulnerable because by going
through the physical disabilities, people are unable to use their skills and abilities and also
they cannot make fast and quick reactions or responses in an abusive situation. It has also
been said that there are various factors which are influenced by these kind of disabilities
(Sørensen and Syljuåsen, 2012). This factor make people physically weak and also they
cannot take stand for themselves. Also it has been argued that they should be proper care
taken of them so as to make them strong and capable enough to fight in various abusive
situations. For an example, in this case, Mrs JK is an elderly woman which is facing multiple
disorder problems. Also, she is abused from her son, who ill-treated her for money. So, Mrs
JK was having physical disorder so she cannot resist his son beating and exploiting her.
Homeless and far away from family and friends: This is a factor which lead to abuse
and harm to self and others. It means that in case of home of old age people, they are
forced to be admitted in social care homes, where they can live and spend their life in
a better manner. But, due to this reason, they are forced to be the victim of sexual and
emotional abuse. Also, if they have n proper place to live they will be forced to live a
life which is of no use. They will not be having money and other basic things.so, if
they are not having their family and friends close to them, then they will become the
victim of abuse and harm.
Lack of knowledge and awareness: It is a factor which leads in the exploitation of others in
this world (Parton, 2011). It depicts that if an individual is not having proper knowledge and
awareness about his or her rights than it will lead to abuse and exploitation. It means that it
matters when vulnerability of adults and others, which need social care and other are
considered.it means that people who do not have proper knowledge and also the information
about the rules and regulations keep on going the abuses of such adults or elderly people.

Government should also try to achieve the minimisation of such misuse of old age people.
The people can get blamed and get rejected because they do not have proper home or place to
stay. The responsibility of various social care home is to provide shelter to those people who
are rejected from their home so that proper care should be taken of them. It can also be
evaluated that proper training sessions should be organized so that they can be given
knowledge about various rules and regulations (Yang and et. al., 2015). It can also be stated
that there are various rules and regulations prepared by the government of the country to
protect the abuse of adults. Adults have experienced more vulnerability instead of those who
have home to live.
Learn to abuse from others: In this point it has been demonstrated that many times
people learn to abuse other people from their friends and family. They have seen
many people by their parents and they also notice their parents abusing others.
Children get highly affected by this practice. So this practice should be reduced as it
highly results in exploitation of vulnerable adults or old age people. They should be
educated about behaving in amicable manner with others, so that people should not
look for social care home.
1.2Risk factors which may lead to incidence of abuse.
There are many factors which may lead to incidence of abuse. Risk in the health care
context is a very considerable manner. Risk is the unintended chance or possibility to get
unprotected into any kind of accidents along with hazards. Risks can be analysed in the
aspect of financial, social physical or psychological streams. Hazards is concept which
includes injuries which can be in the way of water, electricity or fire.
Psychological abuse: It is also termed as mental abuse and one of risk factor which
arises the risk of psychological instability and harming other people by their actions. This
type of situation or condition arises if any adults feel alone or he thinks that nobody is there
for taking care of him (Whitmee and et. al., 2015). It can also be analysed that this
circumstance can also be emerged if any child or adult realises that everyone rejects them.
Social risk is one of other type of risk. It is related with having bad company people
who have tendency of addiction along with aggression and negative conducts. It can also
be evaluated that there are many other factors which are related to society and other
aspects which force other people to harm others for their own purpose.
Physical risks are those factors which can be taken as revealing into threats and risks of
accidents. It can also be noted that most of physical risks happened due to lack of proper care
and concern by the family members. Also, there is a lack of attention on those adults and
children or old age people who requires care and concern or attention (Davies and Ward, 2011).
As, in the given example, it has been shows that Mrs JK was suffering from physical
disorders, so she need to be more properly treated and care should be provided.
TASK 1B
1.3The impact of social and cultural factors on different types of abuse.
In this present world, there is a great impact of many factors on the abuse or
exploitation of adults which are vulnerable in nature. These can be broadly categorised into
social and cultural factors.

Social factors affect people and their mentality. It also give rise to physical and
mental abuse. Homeless people are often referred to those people, of whom proper care has
not been taken and they are rejected from their house. These social factors are the most
crucial and considerable factors even from the aspect of world as it is related to the society.
WHO has revealed that there are 13% women of total, who are raped and 23% are found with
sexual victimisation.
There are many other cultural actors to which impacts other abuse and harm other
people too. In this present scenario, Mrs JK was a victim of abuse from his son which was in
20s. It clearly means that he is highly affected by cultural factors, as he needed money for
fulfilling his drug related needs (Prakash,2011). Also, cultural factors includes religious
beliefs irrespective of their disorders. For an instance we can say that there are many
religions, according to them interaction of men and women is restricted.
It can be further noted that personal and personal beliefs of an individual affects the
nature of abusing and misusing the most. It can be further noted that opinion and belief of
personality of an individual straight forwardly affects the process of medication or the plan
created for taking care of him. In this case, Mrs JK was a quarry of abuse from his son. But
later on she again was seeing demanding him back.it is due to personal factor due to the
relationship between them as the mother and son (Barlow and McMillan, 2010). A care plan
should also be imitated. A care plan is a process in which care is taken of an adult, so that
they cannot head for social care home. Also car plan is a plan by which an adult can be
framed as a responsible person. Also, due to personal beliefs, people in social care home do
not want to be treated by those people who do not usually interact with others. Furthermore,
people getting affected people by social risks avoid to remain with social people because they
are scared of socially affected risks and other aspects (Blokhuis and et. al., 2010). Also, the
cultural factors impact on the behaviour of others. Some people obtain the mentality and
nature of affecting others in a negative manner by their culture and adopting the behaviours
of other similar persons. Also, financial condition also provokes a person to perform in this
way. It can also be further noted that there are many other factors of culture which can be in
the category of ethnicity, discrimination, religion, activity. Furthermore, poverty and health
are also very crucial factors which impacts the abuse or harm to self and others. It means that
people due to their poverty and lack of money prefers to abuse and exploit them. Also,
primary and secondary solicitation also keep important place in effecting the abuse and harm
to other people and citizens of country.
TASK 2
2.1 Analyse the strengths and weaknesses in current national and local legislations and
policies.
In order to assess and reduce the use of abuse and other techniques to harm others,
various legislations and rules or regulations have been framed by the government of UK.
These are framed with a view point to safe guard the people and others from being getting
hurt or miss used. Various rules and legislations that are been framed are named as CRB
check (Adult) protection act, whistle blowing policies etc.
Whistle blowing policy is that policy which demonstrates that the legislation policies
should be improved at times and also it depicts the democratic position and option to create a

policy which is healthy in nature (Rees and et. al., 2010). The main strength of this policy is
that it focus to reduce the abuse and aim to create a healthier policy which is in the benefit of
all elderly people. Although, the main drawback of this policy can be that it can creates the
misunderstanding between staffs of care home and it can consequence in the demoralisation
and decreased motivation of employees. It can also results in the poor condition as well.
The Mental Capacity Act, 2005 is an anther legislation which is framed with a
perspective to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people and others who are not mentally
stable. These people are full of anxiety and other mental disorders. The strength of this act is
that people falling under this act are given special privilege and also vulnerable groups in
society are entitled to special affection and care from others. Weakness of this act is that the
people in vulnerable group are given importance who are mentally unfit and has mental
disabilities and disorders. It care only a part of vulnerable groups.
Safeguarding of vulnerable groups act 2006, is an anther initiative taken by the
government of UK in the direction to reduce the abuse and harm to elderly and adults (Egoh
and et. al., 2010). In this an authority has been created under this act to provide the citizens
with various safeguarding as well as emergency services which aid to reduce the abuse by
providing first aid services. Under the given cases, it has been evaluated that proper care and
attention was not provided along with patients are treated in a bad behaviour. This is not a
good sign. Under this act, it has been mentioned that patients should be treated nicely.
The Health Care act, is another act framed under this aspect because it protects the
persons from getting abused and hurt. This acts depicts that appropriate strategies should be
developed for implementation of health care and also promotion of good health (Mantell and
Scragg, 2011). This legislation also helps the managers to create an environment in which
every person respect others and also ensure safeguarding activities.
Sexual Offences act, 2003 illustrates the sexual safety of vulnerable groups in the
society. The strength of this act is to reduce the risk factors so that elder people feel safety
around them (Hasan and Deininger, 2010).
2.2 range of professionals are involved in the protection of individuals and groups vulnerable
to abuse.
In the field of safeguarding of people, Professionals are those persons, who assess the
risks and develop a care plan to make sure that proper care has been assigned to them.
Professionals such as managers of the social care home has the duty to take care of the
persons who are admitted there in. in the given case scenario of Stafford Hospital, in which it
has been proved that due to mistake of hospital staff there were many people who were
suffered with disorders. In the context of this case, it is the ley responsibility of the manager
of the care home to train their staff and ensure proper behaviours of them so as to make sure
that no body is negatively impacted by this.
Managers has the responsibility to assure smooth running of their social care home
with minimum risk of exploitation. Also, doctors have the complete duty to deal with any
kind of vulnerable cases so that they can be assure that they are the one who can classify the
requirement of care (Barlow and Scott, 2010). In another case, in Winterbourne Hospital,

serves users of that company has fund with various disabilities and disorders. It is the duty of
the professional personnel to take care of the persons which are there for treatment.
Managers have the key role in handling of operations and functions of their care home and
also make sure that they carry out their duty with proper legislations and ethics. Managers
along with their employees should assure the persons admitted therein, that they can be able
to share their views and opinions so that suitable treatment can be done. Also, they should
make sure about the proper safeguarding practices to be performed in the local place of their
social care home (Chin and Yeong, 2010 ). Nurses are also the important key professional
person that aim to render special care and concern to patients. Nurses are trained capably to
offer the safety of people admitted in their social care home. Nurses are also provided with
some guidelines from the government through which they safeguard the patients admitted
there in. It must be also noted that t is the moral duty of doctor to make sure that every patient
is treated in a well-planned manner. Also, no harm and abuse should be caused to him. There
are certain cases which lay down several positive results by the coordination of doctor and its
employees which make it clear that proper care and treatment is provided in their social care
home (Harris and et. al., 2010). Moreover, the managers are another key person in an
organization which prepares plan for risk assessment, which helps in minimising the risks
associated with patients.
TASK 3
3.1Explain existing working practices and strategies designed to minimise abuse in health
and social care.
There are following working practices and strategies by which we can minimise abuse in
Health and social care contexts:
1. Educational approach: In this approach Gov. and local authorities educate the
people who really need help such as affected desired groups. By this approach people
know the basic knowledge about legislation as well as remedies for their mental or
physical disabilities which they have. It is considered to be the most effective and
efficient approach in the aspect of health care (Ward, Brown and Westlake, 2012). It has
been established in respect to ensure the safeguarding and protection of children. The
safeguarding children board has established this approach to make sure that welfare
and protection of children is done properly. Also, various strategies and policies have
been framed so that they can establish effective relationship with the children.
2. Physical & mental exercise programme: These programme is useful for those
person who was mentally & physical disable disorder. Health Care centre & Govt.
provide exercise facilities to cope their disability conditions. By this method,
vulnerable group can interact with his all surroundings more conveniently than before
with minimum risk.
Legislation and whistle blowing strategies: This practice helps to organizations about the
safety of people who need special care. It is that policy through which the managers’ of an
organization can be informed of misbehaviour of employees while dealing with the children
(Ward, Brown and Westlake, 2012). It has also been assessed that if any employee or worker is
found abusing r misbehaving with any child, then that person would be penalised under the
act.

3.2Evaluate the effectiveness and strategies used to minimise abuse.
There are many strategies and policies which are framed in the context of children
welfare so as to protect them in any kind of organization by adults (Dhama and et. al., 2013).
The main focus is to minimise the risks factors which exist in the environment. The various
strengths and weakness have been evaluated in these approaches.
Strength and weakness of Educational approach:
 Educational approach is that approach which is advantageous for managers to run and
operate the procedure of their business organization.
 This method also helps the organization to spread awareness regarding safety so that
they can come to know about various laws.
 This is also consist of drawback is that it must be expensive as education strategies
are expensive in education strategies for the health setting.
Strength and weakness of Physical exercise are:
 It is beneficial due to controlling physical and mental disability situations of an
individual.
 It needs support and corporation of a health care consultant.
The main drawback is that these kind of programmes will require much time of persons
(Tiwari and et. al., 2014). Moreover, this is not preferable by people as it consumes more time.
Strength and weakness of whistle blowing strategies and policies:
 It is advantageous for the health context because it is useful for the social care as it
provides better information to deal with wrong practices operated in the company.
 It also creates the assessment of risk and its factors as it creates a risk free
environment.
3.3Possible improvements to working practices and strategies to minimise abuse.
It can be concluded that an effective risk assessments should be done. In addition to
this, it has been assessed that it should be operated by effective person so that best results can
be done. He should be acknowledged with most followed strategies so that they can be results
in positive results. This person should be effective with using various quality control system.
It can also be analysed that there are several small scale providers who need to be educated
and well developed about the risk assessment.
Professional health care persons is another way to enhance the strategies related to
education. The care setter or render the qualification of and experience of the person who is
handled with a duty to create an effective environment in the premises of an organization. In
addition to this, support of government is also another way to improve the efficiency of
strategies (Nugent, 2012). The government provides finance and funds to those care homes so
that they able to conduct strategies and other effective approaches.
CONCLUSION
From this report it has been concluded that it is needed to be developed safeguarding
the vulnerable adults. There are various risks associated with them which affects care
providers. These should be identified by care setters and effective strategies should be

implied in order to come across various positive results. Also, in this report it has been
concluded that there are many factors which need to be considered while establishing
strategies for children welfare. Their strengths and weakness has also been evaluated in this
report. Also, various strategies and acts or legislations in respect of reducing the abuse and
harm to vulnerable people should be mentioned. Also it should be handled to a responsible
man so that they can implement effective results.

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