Reporting that you have been abused or neglected

What is ‘safeguarding’ and ‘abuse’?

Safeguarding is about making you aware of your rights, protecting you and preventing abuse.

Abuse is any action that harms another person.

What should you do if you are abused or neglected?

You should never have to tolerate abuse. If you think that you have suffered any form of abuse by another person, you should immediately tell your care coordinator, named nurse, or any other professional working with you who you trust. Their contact details should be on your care plan.

We will then work with you and anyone else who can help keep you safe. This may include the police and other services.

If you prefer, you can tell your local authority, the Care Quality Commission, or the Police about abuse or neglect.

What will we need to know?

We will ask you to give brief details about what has happened and who did what.

Any information you give us will be used sensitively, and will be shared only 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.

We will:

always take what you report seriously.
listen to you and respect your wishes wherever possible.
give you immediate help and support to help you to keep safe and to make sure the abuse stops.

What happens after you tell us what has happened?

We will always try and act in your best interests if you are unable to do so for yourself. We will make a quick decision

– are you in immediate danger? If you are, we will take action straight away to safeguard you, with your agreement.

If we do not think you are not in immediate danger, we will talk to other professionals to decide what to do how to proceed.

If you find it difficult to understand whatis happening, we will ask you if you want an advocate, or the support of a carer, relative or friend.

Looking into your concerns

We will look into what you have told us. We will ask whether and how, you wish to take part in any investigation and what you want to happen about the abuse.

How long will it take?

Some safeguarding matters can be dealt with quite quickly, but others can be complex and take longer to sort out.

We will keep you informed of what is happening.

What happens next?

A meeting will be arranged to look at what has happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

You will be invited to attend and to contribute to any plan to reduce the possibility of further abuse.

What might happen to the person who is abusing you?

If this person is important to you, we will try to help you keep your relationship with them.

We can offer services, advice and information to you.

If the person is a staff member or volunteer, they will not be allowed to contact you while the investigation takes place.

What happens afterwards?

Once any investigation or safeguarding plan is completed, we will ask you if you feel safer and if you feel your views and wishes were listened to and taken seriously.

We hope that you will tell us what your experience was, so we can improve how we work with people to keep them safe in the future.

What should you do if you are not happy with the way we have tried to help keep you safe?

If you think something is going wrong with the way we are trying to help you, let us know as soon as possible, so we can try and put it right at once – don’t keep silent or wait until the end to tell us you are not happy

Discuss your concerns with the people directly involved and see if they can resolve the issue.

If the issue is still not resolved, you can contact PALS or make a complaint.