Critical Review: Safeguarding Policies and Practices in UK Care Homes

This essay provides a critical evaluation of safeguarding older adults within UK care homes, focusing on the effectiveness of current policies and practices. It highlights the increasing demand for care homes due to functional and cognitive challenges faced by older adults, leading to potential risks of mistreatment, neglect, and harm. The essay discusses the importance of implementing robust policies, inspection reports, education, training, and whistle-blowing mechanisms to protect vulnerable residents. It also reflects on personal learning through Gibbs' reflective model, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement in safeguarding practices and the integration of service user feedback to enhance the quality of care and prevent negative health impacts. The essay concludes that ensuring safety and protection within care homes is essential for the well-being of older adults, requiring a proactive approach to prevent neglect, harm, and maltreatment.

Critical
Evaluation or
Summary and
reflective

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Safeguarding refers to protecting citizen’s health, human rights and their wellbeing. This is
the one which allow to provide better care and support through providing protection from any
type of neglect or harm. Safeguarding older people is one of the main concern within care home
in UK. This can include various impact on their life and lead to a major public concern. This
includes high impact within health and social care which includes the issue of neglect and harm
at care homes to older people. Here, safeguarding play and important role which provide
protection to individual which allows to better care about the effective response. Safeguarding is
highly effective with health and social care including care homes which are effective and allow
to get better care and support to vulnerable adults like older people who need proper protection
through any type of harm or neglect (Cocker et. al., (2021)). It is essential to provide effective
response that can includes protection to older adults within care home who should get protected
through any type of harm or neglect. In this, there is discussion about the health and social care
issue which includes safeguarding to older adults within care home in UK.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
This article provides the information about protecting care home residents from
mistreatment along with abuse which includes the need for policy. This article emphasis about
the need or implementation of policy which can play an important role in providing protection to
older people within their care homes. This can help to provide safety against any neglect, harm
or mistreatment. This can include various aspect that may help in dealing with better care and
support to provide effective response.
There are large number of older people who are facing issues of safeguarding where they
suffer and experience neglect, harm or mistreatment within care homes. In this, it is necessary to
provide better protection to them which can be helpful in dealing with better and effective
response (Donnelly, (2019)). Within UK, there are increasing demand of care home which is due
to their dependencies that are related with their functional or cognitive self-care challenges. This
article includes the discussion and various aspect of providing protection to older people through
making policy and providing safeguarding within care homes. This also help to deliver various
information about the practices which should be implemented in care homes to deal with

mistreatment, neglect or harm to older people. Here, target audience are the older people who are
exposed towards mistreatment, harm and neglect due to their dependencies.
This article provides various interesting topic which can be effective and allow to take care
about the safety regarding any harm, neglect, maltreatment or others. This can also emphasis
about the policy which should be taken in practice that can have high impact on delivery
safeguarding to older people within care homes. This article also focusses on the policy,
inspection reports, education and training and whistle-blowing, use of human rights lens which
allow to various information about the prevalence and negative impact of maltreatment, harm
and neglect with care home in UK. This article provides large information about the older people
who face different abuse, maltreatment and harm at the care home either through service
providers or other residents (Liu et. al., (2021)).
This article includes various questions regarding health and social care issues which include
the delivery of services and during this, it creates various issues of protection within care homes
to older adults. This is the one which can lead to create high impact during delivery or safety and
protection towards harm or neglect. There is various key question has been answered within the
article. It includes the who are exposed to the neglect, herm or maltreatment? What is cause of
these? Who to provide protection to them? How to effectively deal with such type of issues
within care homes in UK. This article also includes the information that can help to analyse the
scope of issue which needs to take care about the effective response that needed for better
delivery of care and services towards their protection to older people within care homes
(Massing, (2018)).
This article has the finding about way to deliver protection against the maltreatment within
care homes. This includes the effectiveness of implementing policy which can be taken in use to
provide safety and safeguarding to vulnerable adults within care homes. It also provides the
finding which include the person centred care to deliver better protection to older adults within
health and social care. It also includes the ways and strategies to implementation of policy in
practice which can be effective and can help to provide better protection against harm, neglect
and maltreatment. It can also assist service provider to take care of older people and avoid the
risk of neglect or harm. It is also need to ensure about the safety which may include different
strategy which can assist in taking care of older people within care homes.

There is need for some improvement which can be effective and allow to get better care
about the older people within care homes. In this, there is need to provide better care and ensure
about avoiding any risk of neglect, harm or maltreatment which have high potential to lead to
create negative health impact on older people within care homes (Retzer et. al., (2020)). In this,
there is also need to include the feedback option which should be delivered by the services user
within care homes. This can be helpful and allow to ensure services providers that should take in
consideration about taking measures to provide safety and ensure that there should not be any
type of neglect or harm to older people. Through getting feedback from the service user can also
help to get the information about the service providers services. That should be professional and
does not includes any type of harm or neglect towards the older people.
There is high significance of writing to professional practices within health and social care
area. This can allow to provide high impact on delivery of better care and support which can be
effective and allow to delivery high impact towards the quality of services. This can have also
high impact on delivery of better services which should be effective and provide protection
towards the health and social care services that includes safeguarding to older people within care
homes in UK. Through writing to professional, practice provides some idea and help in dealing
with better learning which should be productive towards care and protection from any type of
neglect, harm or maltreatment (Cooper et. al., (2018)).
TASK 2
Gibbs reflective model refers to reflective framework which includes the reflection of
experience through including various elements like description, feelings, evaluation, analysis,
conclusion and action plan.
Description- I have found that safeguarding to older people is highly important. There are
large number of cases which allow me to understand that people who live in care homes are
highly affected through malpractice, harm and neglect within care homes. This is the one where I
need to take care about the effective learning which should include the better implementation of
policy to provide protection against any harm, neglect and malpractices. I have also learned that
there is need to implement policy in effective way that can help to deliver better care and support
to older people against any type of harm, neglect or maltreatment (Phelan et. al., (2018)).
Feelings- I have felt that it is highly needed for the policy which should be implemented in
such a that can allow to provide better and effective response which should be effective in

delivering of better safety to older people within care home from any neglect, harm or
maltreatment. I have also felt that there is also policy of safeguarding which is highly effective
and help older people against any harm or neglect. I have also feel that there is also need to take
some extra initiative which can lead to implement that can lead to create high impact on delivery
of safety to older people (Moore, (2018)).
Evaluation- I have evaluated that there are large number of care homes that provides care
and support to the vulnerable adults. This has also evaluated that it is essential to take care about
the effective response which includes different safeguarding needs that can allow get better care
and support to individual which are associated with better care within care home. Here, research
regarding need for policy has been done effectively where article provide large number of data
regarding prevalence of neglect or harm with care home to older people. I have also evaluated
that there is need to take initiative which can help to take safety in consideration about older
people which can have high positive impact on deliver better safety and care to the older people
within UK (Factor et. al., (2019)).
Analysis- I have analyzed that it is difficult to apply for the feedback strategy where
vulnerable older people may get mistreated by the service provider due to getting any type of
information regarding their feedback which can be revealed due to any reason. There is also risk
of misconduct during providing feedback which are associated with different people. I have also
analyzed that it is difficult to apply the safeguarding policy with 100% effect. There are always
some cases which lead to provide the information that implemented policy is not fully effective
and need to either improve it or make some policy which can cover all the other aspect which are
not covered by this policy. I have also analyzed that I also need to improve my skills which are
help to provide better and support services to older people which can be useful in taking care of
their health and avoid the risk of neglect, harm or mistreatment (Dresser, (2018)).
Conclusion- I have concluded that article has much information about the safeguarding
older people from any type of harm, neglect or maltreatment. I have also concluded that policy
includes high effectiveness that help to delivery better and effective response which re associated
with taking care of older people within care home in UK. I have learned about implementing
policy which can includes to learning about taking care of older adults to ensure about taking
care of them which are associated with delivering better care and support to resist and harm,
neglect and maltreatment x(Dresser, (2018)).

Action plan- I can face such type of issues within other healthcare setting where I also need to
ensure about the healthcare services which are associated with providing protection and safety
against the harm, neglect and maltreatment. I have learned through the article about ensure the
protection to older people within care home which may also include the learning about better
implementation of policy which can help in associating with care and effective response. I will
also learn from other article about the providing safety and protection and ensure about better
safety towards harm and neglect (Yerramilli et. al., (2019)).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can have concluded that there is need to ensure about the
safety within care home to the older people. This is the one which are associated with taking care
of every individual who are the resident of care home. It is essential to provide better health and
safety which can associates with delivery better safety and includes care about avoid any type of
neglect, harm and maltreatment. It also enables to understand the need for protection through any
neglect or harm to older people.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cocker, C., Cooper, A., Holmes, D., & Bateman, F. (2021). Transitional Safeguarding:
presenting the case for developing Making Safeguarding Personal for young people in
England. The Journal of Adult Protection.
Cooper, A., Cocker, C., & Briggs, M. (2018). Making safeguarding personal and social work
practice with older adults: findings from local-authority survey data in England. British
Journal of Social Work, 48(4), 1014-1032.
Donnelly, S. (2019). Mandatory reporting and adult safeguarding: A rapid realist review. The
Journal of Adult Protection.
Dresser, P. (2018). Counter-radicalisation through safeguarding: A political analysis of the
counter-terrorism and security act (2015). Journal for Deradicalization, (16), 125-164.
Factor, F. J., & Ackerley, E. L. (2019). Young people and police making “Marginal Gains”:
climbing fells, building relationships and changing police safeguarding practice. Journal
of Children's Services.
Liu, P. J., Hernandez Chilatra, J. A., & Phelan, A. (2021). Examining nurses' role in Adult
Protective Services related to safeguarding older people. Journal of advanced nursing,
77(5), 2481-2497.
Massing, K. (2018). Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in an ethnic theme park setting–the
case of Binglanggu in Hainan Province, China. International Journal of Heritage Studies,
24(1), 66-82.
Moore, S. (2018). Oops! Its happened again! Evidence of the continuing abuse of older people in
care homes. The Journal of Adult Protection.
Phelan, A., McCarthy, S., & McKee, J. (2018). Safeguarding staff’s experience of cases of
financial abuse. British Journal of Social Work, 48(4), 924-942.
Retzer, A., Kaye, J., & Gray, R. (2020). A factorial survey investigating the effect of disclosing
parental intellectual disability on risk assessments by children’s social workers in child
safeguarding scenarios. The British Journal of Social Work, 50(4), 1185-1200.
Yerramilli, D., Moghanaki, D. M., & Efstathiou, J. A. (2019). Safeguarding autonomy of patients
with bladder cancer. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics,
103(1), 81-83.
Online
Protecting care home residents from mistreatment and abuse: on the need for policy (2015)
[Online] Available through < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4657805/>