Prevention in safeguarding is one of the six principles that make safeguarding so effective. As part of Safeguarding Adults Week, we’ve been examining the way these principles are used to safeguard the vulnerable people we work with.
Preventing neglect, harm and abuse is the core function of safeguarding. This makes it the most important element of safeguarding. Prevention also protects the health, well-being, and human rights of people. It’s far better to take steps to prevent safeguarding issues from occurring, rather than dealing with the situations when they do.
But, how can you ‘prevent’ a safeguarding issue? Well, it could mean having input from the community learning team to reduce local risks. For example, it could involve health professionals. We might ask dieticians to create a suitable menu plan to prevent health conditions worsening. This would safeguard the individual from malnourishment or increased risk of heart disease. This can even extend to making sure the phones the people we work with use have adequate protections on them to stop spam callers.
And as we all know, prevention is better than any cure!
Prevention can be achieved through numerous methods. But excellent foresight and planning are essential. Organisations that have a sound safeguarding policy in place are more robust than those that don’t. Especially when it comes to identifying risks before they become an issue. A major part of this is notifying appropriate services.
Planning prevention
Identifying risks
Organisations can identify risks before they become issues and notify the appropriate services.
Raising awareness
Organisations can raise awareness of who may be more likely to become vulnerable.
Training staff
Organisations can train staff to recognise the signs of abuse, harm, and neglect.
Making information accessible
Organisations can make information easily accessible to encourage individuals to ask for help.
At the YOU Trust we value safeguarding in everything we do. It’s part of our DNA, and is monitored by Ofsted and the CQC.
