Policy Statement 

This policy shows how Bright Brains Global protects its service users from abuse or harm in line with its legal requirements and best safeguarding practice guidance, including the National Institute for Clinical and Health Excellence: N189, Safeguarding Adults in Care Homes (NICE, 2021).

Definition

Safeguarding means keeping people safe from harm, abuse and/or neglect.

Abuse is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress.

Purpose

Bright Brains Global shares and is committed to the vision of the local safeguarding authority, which is to empower and protect adults who are at risk of abuse and neglect, as defined in legislation and statutory guidance.

The service understands that local safeguarding arrangements and developments follow a government strategy based on:

• empowerment — supporting people to make decisions and have a say in their care
• protection — support and representation for those in greatest need
• prevention — it is better to take action before harm occurs
• proportionality — safeguarding must be built on proportionality and a consideration of people’s human rights
• partnership — local solutions through services working with their communities
• accountability — safeguarding practice and arrangements should be accountable and transparent.

The service has a safeguarding lead or “champion”, who provides a one-stop point of contact for addressing initially all safeguarding concerns in the service and in corresponding and communicating with external agencies, particularly the local authority adult safeguarding team.

The current safeguarding lead is: Peter Otuyele.

Procedure

Prevention of Abuse – better than cure

Bright Brains Global is committed to preventing the abuse of Clients. It will strive to achieve this by:

• promoting a strong and identifiable culture of valuing and respecting people, and a recognisable person – centred approach to care, within as wide a community-focused environment as possible;

• implementing internal policies and procedures which confirm the importance of providing care in a safe, caring and professional manner.

• ensuring that thorough and systematic recruitment practices are followed which ensure that references are taken up for all care workers, and use is made of all available and appropriate checking procedures, particularly the records of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS);

• encouraging the role of the advocate for Clients. Clients who have no relatives or friends to act as advocates should be encouraged to have an independent advocate who will act as spokesperson for the Client and participate in care reviews as necessary;

• recognising the fundamental rights of Clients to privacy, dignity, maintenance of self-esteem and fulfilment, choice, recognition of diversity, individuality and independence, together with the maintenance of their rights as citizens;

• making relatives and advocates aware of Bright Brains Global complaints procedure and encouraging them to comment upon the care received by Clients and to participate in reviews of care;

• committing to Quality Assurance and regular Quality Reviews;

• ensuring that training is provided on the forms and prevention of abuse and that such training is available to all employees;

• taking action whenever there is suspicion that any form of abuse has occurred;

• utilising management systems which support and supervise employees in their work and facilitate good communications;

• encouraging an atmosphere where employees feel able to discuss and therefore prevent the development of potentially abusive situations;

• ensuring that induction procedures for employees include the prevention of abuse of Clients;

• giving Clients a copy of Bright Brains Global complaints procedure upon commencement of care and ensuring that they understand how to use the procedure;

Preventative Measures of Abuse from Occurring

Bright Brains Global is committed to taking all possible steps to prevent abuse or harm of service users from occurring, including:

1. setting out and making widely known the procedures for responding to suspicions or evidence of abuse/harm
2. operating personnel policies which ensure that all potential staff in regulated activity are rigorously checked, by the taking up of references and clearance through DBS criminal records and barred list checks, with equivalent checks for staff employed from overseas
3. incorporating material relevant to abuse/harm into staff training at all levels
4. maintaining vigilance concerning the possibility of abuse/harm of service users from whatever source
5. encouraging among staff, service users and all other stakeholders a climate of openness and awareness that makes it possible to pass on concerns about behaviour that might be abusive or that might lead to abuse/harm
6. devising systems that minimise the risk of abuse of service users by other service users by understanding and dealing appropriately with any form of aggression
7. maintaining robust procedures for regulating any contact the staff of the home need to have with service users’ property, money or financial affairs
8. communicating concerns to the local Adults’ Safeguarding Board or, where applicable, Safeguarding Children Board
9. helping service users as far as possible to avoid or control situations or relationships that would make them vulnerable to abuse/harm
10. having a clear whistleblowing policy that informs staff of their rights and responsibilities when reporting concerns to management or an appropriate outside agency.

Detection of Abuse

• Clients should be assessed for signs of abuse as part of the initial assessment process, during service planning and reviews. Abuse may be occurring where the Client appears withdrawn, depressed, frightened, with irregular sleep patterns, low self-esteem etc. Where abuse is suspected, then it must be recorded and reported without delay;

• Employees are encouraged to look for signs of abuse such as bruises that are said to be self – inflicted or the result of repeated accidents; unconvincing explanations should arouse suspicions. Signs of sexual abuse include pain or injury in the genital area, bloodstains or discharge on underwear or discomfort when walking or sitting;

• Clients’ appearance and reactions should be noted following visits or outings. Employees should be alert to the potential of abuse by other people outside Bright Brains Global. A Client who is frightened of an abusing relative may ask a care worker to stay with them when the relative visits;

Employees should be alert for potential financial abuse, particularly when someone else is managing a client’s finances.

Action in the event of abuse occurring or suspected

If abuse of a client is witnessed the person witnessing the abuse should: 

• Immediately challenge the person who is abusing the Client and try to persuade him/her to stop;

• Report the incident to the Support Services Manager or person in charge immediately;

• The person reporting the incident should be offered the support of another person if they wish;

• Any suspicions of abuse of a client should be reported to the Support Services Manager or person in charge immediately;

• In the event that the Client, a visitor, friend or relative alleges the abuse (and it involves someone from Bright Brains Global), the matter should be dealt with according to Bright Brains Global complaints procedure without delay;

• All incidents must be reported to the Support Services Manager. Requests to “keep quiet” (even from the victim) will, ordinarily, have to be refused, although the circumstances surrounding the request must be discussed with the Support Services Manager as part of the investigation process.

Review and Improvement

This Policy will be amended from time to time to ensure it remains up-to-date. 

Policy was last updated on 01/12/2021