Work Practices and Strategies to Minimize Abuse in Health and Social Care

This presentation discusses the work practices and strategies designed to minimize abuse in health and social care contexts. It explores the existing practices, their effectiveness, and possible improvements. The presentation also highlights relevant legislation and the role of different organizations in safeguarding vulnerable populations.

UNDERSTANDING WORKING PRACTICE AND
STRATEGIES USED TO MINIMISE ABUSE IN HEALTH
AND SOCIAL CARE CONTEXTS (3.1-3.3)
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LECTURER: Dr. Susan Marchant-Haycox
SAFEGUARDING IN HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE

To understand, evaluate and discuss:
• Objective 3.1 to 3.3
• Existing working practices and strategies designed to
minimise abuse and their effectiveness, and how they
can be improved

Work Practices Designed to Minimize
Abuse in Health and Social Care Contexts
• Communication occurring between agencies
who are involved in protecting children and
vulnerable individuals from abuse
• Communication must occurs between
doctors, social services and hospital staffs
(Featherstone, Morris and White 2014)

Other Work Practices
• Other work practices and strategies include
• Working in partnership with different professionals:
It helps to maximize the advantages with various
skills and resources
• Working with partnership also helps in sharing of
the information with the healthcare professionals,
carers and other stakeholder
(Action For Children 2016)

Strategies for Protection of Vulnerable
Population
• Induction: Awareness of the new staffs about
the duty
• Staff training: Proper training of the stages
• Multi-agency working deals with pooling
expertise to address different problems
(Action For Children 2016)

Work Practices under Care Quality
Commission
• Care Quality Commission (CQC) give importance
to both respect to human rights and provides
importance to Health and Social Care Act (2008)
• CQC is regarded as a health watch dog for
proper inspection of health and social care
services as procured by NHS
(Care Quality Commission 2017)

Work Practices and Strategies as defined by
legislation
Children Act 2004
• Helps in promoting awareness about the views ad interest of children in
England
• Promotes physical and mental well-being of the children
• Protection of the children from harm or neglect
• Education of the society along with proper training to take care of the children
• Local agencies, police and health services, also have duty under section of
Children Act 2004 to ensure that the needs to safeguard the welfare of
children
(Children Commissioner 2004)

Another Important Legislations
Every Child Matters (2003)
• An important UK Government initiative for England and Wales concerning
children welfare
• It is guided by the acronym of SHEEP
• Stay safe (S)
• be healthy (H)
• enjoy and achieve (E)
• achieve economic well-being (E)
• make a positive contribution (P)
(Government of UK 2003)

Evaluation of the effectiveness
of work practices and
strategies designed to
minimise abuse in health and
social care contexts (3.2)

Effectiveness of work practices and strategies
designed to minimise abuse in health and
social care contexts
• Department of Education (DfE): Deals with safe guarding
and promoting education and welfare to the children
through spreading awareness and education
• Care Quality Commission (CQC): Deals with respect for
human rights and the requirement under the Health and
Social Care Act 2008 to protect and promote the rights

Effectiveness of work practices and strategies designed
to minimise abuse in health and social care contexts
 Police: Responsibility to recognize and investigate the
cases of abuse but Baby P’s case was not
investigated properly as they failed to include the
doctors
 Social Services are responsible for the well-being
and protection children and other vulnerable
population however, this was not the case

Effectiveness of work practices and strategies
designed to minimise abuse in health and
social care contexts
• Established in 2012
• Functions for Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)
• Main task: preventing unsuitable people from working and
living with vulnerable group of population including
children
(Government of UK 2018)

Discussion of possible improvements to
working practices and strategies to minimise
abuse in health and social care contexts (3.3)
• In order to improve the overall implementation of the
practices and the strategies and to minimize the abuse in
the domain of health and social care the strategy which can
be used is Whistle Blowing
• It helps to alert the surrounding people about the
impending risk or about the abuse which is happening at
that very point of time (Rasheed et al. 2010, pp.252-253)

Discussion of possible improvements to
working practices and strategies to minimise
abuse in health and social care contexts (3.3)
• Improvement for the case scenario for Baby P will include
• Proper training of the doctors or the healthcare
professionals in for the easy and the fast detection of the
child harm and the injury
• The strategy will include effective communication and
proper exchange of the information between the different
stakeholders for the child protection for the
implementation of the Children Act 2004.

Conclusion
and
Recommendation
• Work practices and strategies are there to minimise abuse in the
health and social care. However, it is evident from the case study that
none of these were implemented
In order to improve the scenario efforts are required to be undertaken
in:
• Training of the healthcare professionals
• Encouraging them to work in partnership while executing effective
communication

References
• Action For Children. 2016. Today, neglect remains the most prevalent form of child
maltreatment in the UK. Access date: 22nd December 2018. Retrieved from:
www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news-and-blogs/policy-updates/2016/july/today-neglect-
remains-the-most-prevalent-form-of-child-maltreatment-in-the-uk/
• Care Quality Commission. 2017. Our Human Rights Approach. Access date: 22nd December
2018. Retrieved from: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/all-services/our-human-
rights-approach
• Children Commissioner. 2004. Children Act 2004. Chapter 31. Access date: 22nd December 2018.
Retrieved from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/31/pdfs/ukpga_20040031_en.pdf
• Featherstone, B., Morris, K. and White, S., 2014. Re-imagining child protection: Towards
humane social work with families. Policy Press.
• Government of UK. 2003. Policy papers: Every Child Matters. Access date: 22nd December 2018.
Retrieved from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-matters
• Government of UK. 2018. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Access date: 22nd December
2018. Retrieved from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about
• Rasheed, E. Hetherington, A. and Irvine, J. (2010). Health and Social Care. London: Hodder.