Caring for someone who is being abused or neglected

Carers, relatives and friends are often vital to preventing or stopping the abuse or neglectof the person that they care for. We will always listen to what is being reported and take it seriously.

What is ‘safeguarding’ and what is‘abuse’?

Safeguarding is about making someone aware of their rights, protecting them and preventing abuse.

Abuse is any action that harms another person.

What to do if you think someone is suffering abuse or neglect

No-one should ever have to tolerate abuse.

If you think that the person you care for may have suffered any form of abuse by another person you should immediately tell their care coordinator, named nurse or any other professional working with them. Their contact details should be on the care plan.

They will then work with you, the service user and anyone else who can help. This may include the police and other services.

If you do not have these contact details, you can also contact the Local Authority to report any concerns. If you need immediate help to stop abuse that is putting someone at immediate risk, contact the police.

Who can be abused?

Anybody can be abused but it happens more often to people who:

are older, frail or have dementia
have physical disabilities
have learning difficulties / disabilities
have mental health problems
have substance misuse problems
depend on others to help them.

What forms can abuse take?

Physical abuse

This is when someone is hurt physically.
This includes shaking, rough handling or giving too much or not enough medicine.

Domestic abuse

This is when people are abused by a family member (or someone them are in a domestic relationship with) and includes the following types of abuse: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional.

Financial abuse

This is when someone takes money or belongings, makes someone buy something that they do not want, or uses someone’s money to pay for their own things.

Emotional abuse

When someone threatens, harasses or causes someone emotional distress, for example, by regularly shouting, ridiculing or deliberately ignoring them.

Sexual abuse

This includes any unwanted sexual touching or behaviour.

Discriminatory abuse This is when someone treats a person unfairly because they think they are different from them.

Neglect When someone does not give a person the things needed to keep them safe.

Self-Neglect This includes a wide range of behaviour including neglecting to care for personal hygiene, health or surroundings and includes behaviour such as hoarding.

Who abuses?

It could be someone already known to the person, a stranger, a relative, friend,neighbour, paid carer, volunteer or member of staff.

Where may abuse occur?

Abuse can take place anywhere, including:

the home, whether a person lives
alone or with someone else
a care home or nursing home
in day care
in hospital
any place where support services are being provided
in a public place.

What will happen next?

We will:

ask you to give brief details about what has happened and who did what.
Any information you give will be used sensitively and will be shared on a confidential basis with other agencies that might need to help. This may need to be shared without your consent if we are very worried about yours or someone else’s safety.
give immediate help and support to the person you care for to keep them safe and to make sure that the abuse stops.
support you in helping the person you care for understand what is happening and to say what they want to happen where this is appropriate.
investigate what you have told us and we will keep you and the service user up to date on what is happening.
ask how you wish to take part in any investigation and in any planning to
safeguard the service user from abuse
or neglect in the future.

We may need to act in their best interests. If they find it difficult to understand what is happening, they can have the support of an advocate as well as your support.