Protecting adults at risk in London: Good practice resource
Published: October 2012
Living a life that is free from harm and abuse is a fundamental right of every person.
This resource is a tool for staff engaged in safeguarding adults at risk. It gives practical pointers to help people assess the risk of abuse, recognise it when it does occur and respond to it appropriately. It also helps put frontline safeguarding in a context of multi-agency, cross-borough work to prevent and investigate abuse across London. The resource supplements Protecting adults at risk: London multi-agency policy and procedures to safeguard adults from abuse, which guides the responses of all agencies across London involved in safeguarding adults at risk.
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Key messages
The six key safeguarding principles.
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Introduction
We set out here what this guides covers, and who should be using it.
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Indicators of abuse
In this section, we set out indicators that different types of abuse may be occurring, and some of the various forms of abuse.
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Situations and responses
This section provides some safeguarding scenarios, and suggested responses to them.
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Information sharing
This section helps people decide what information to share with whom, and when it is appropriate to do so.
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Risk assessment
Here we explore the key considerations and practical tasks involved in assessing the risk of abuse.
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Seeing and speaking to the adult at risk
Provides practical advice on what to do when a disclosure of possible abuse is made.
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Investigating adult abuse
This section covers investigating and gathering evidence about different forms of abuse.
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Investigator's report
Here we look at the constituent elements of a good investigator's report.
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Referrals to other processes
Adult safeguarding is part of a wider network of service responses. Here we look at how to make contact with other parts of that network.
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Cross-borough protocol
Many abuse alerts in London involve cross-borough issues so clarity as to who does what is important. This section sets out roles and responsibilities.
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Major investigations and reviews
Practitioners need to be aware of the investigations and reviews that different bodies may conduct when abuse is on a large scale or leads to tragic outcomes.