The Trust believes that everyone has a right to:
The Trust considers that safeguarding is the responsibility of all staff, both clinical and non-clinical. The Trust will discharge its safeguarding duties and provide assurance of this to the CCG. All staff have a duty of care to share concerns about a patient or staff welfare if they believe they are suffering, or likely to suffer harm. Staff have mandatory safeguarding training on induction and repeated every three years.
Further reading about how we work in partnership to safeguard adults can be found on the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board website:
Further information regarding the work of the Surrey Safeguarding Children’s Partnership can be found here:
If you are concerned that a person who is a patient within the hospital is being abused or neglected, please call 01932 872000 and ask for the appropriate team:
If you are concerned about abuse regarding an adult or child in your community, then you can make a direct referral using the contacts below:
“Abuse is a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights by any other person or persons”.
‘Significant harm’ should be taken to include:
In 2014 the Care Act introduced clear guidance relating to what constitutes an adult safeguarding concern. Previously adults might be described as vulnerable, or at risk, however, under the Care Act the scope for safeguarding is described as a situation where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an adult in its area (whether or not ordinarily resident there)
The Care Act further introduced a general duty on local authorities to promote an individual’s ‘wellbeing’. This means that they should always have a person’s wellbeing in mind and when making decisions about them or planning services.
Wellbeing can relate to:
This does not mean that just because a person is old, frail or has a disability they are inevitably ‘at risk’. For example, a person with a disability who has mental capacity to make decisions about their own safety could be perfectly able to make informed choices and protect themselves from harm. In the context of safeguarding adults, the degree of risk is related to a number of factors, including how able they are to access support and/or protect themselves from harm.
Adults, with capacity, are free to choose the level of risk they live with, this may mean that some patients who appear to be living ‘risky’ lifestyles may do so if they can make and exercise their own informed choices free from duress, pressure or undue influence of any sort, protecting themselves from abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) states the key principles of safeguarding children are that:
All staff that comes into contact with children and young people have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote their welfare; all staff should know what to do if they have any concerns. This includes all staff that work predominantly or completely with adults. Even though a health professional may not be working directly with the child, they may be seeing their parent, carer or other significant adult and have knowledge that is relevant to a child’s safety and welfare.
A child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th Birthday and includes the unborn child (The Children Act 1989 & 2004).
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young children is the process of:
(Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018)
Child protection is part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. This refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm.
The prime concern at all stages must be the interests and safety of the child. Where there is conflict of interest between the child and the parent/carer, the welfare of the child is paramount.