The 6 Principles of Safeguarding – What Does It Mean?
When you hear the word “safeguarding”, what do you think about? Often, people immediately think about children, in settings like nurseries or schools. Safeguarding is a wider concept than just childcare though. In recent years the focus has been increasingly on vulnerable adults. The 6 Principles of Safeguarding underpin work in this area. They are discussed at length in the Care Act. If you’re working in this era you’ve probably heard of them already, but here’s a quick recap.
1. Empowerment
Empowerment means that adults should be supported to make decisions about their care. This could take many forms. It could mean explaining things in a different way so that someone can understand, or taking the time to go through various options. Once a decision is made, the carer should then follow through with the patient’s wishes. Most care organisations also have a person designated to handle concerns and problems which can’t be resolved elsewhere.
2. Prevention
This principle stems from the old saying that prevention is better than cure. Recognising a problem and stepping in to stop it escalating is better than saying nothing and then dealing with problems. This also covers staff training in identifying abuse and how to recognise the sign that someone might be a victim of abuse within a care setting.
3. Proportionality
This principle is all about recognising that some patients or residents will need more support than others. It also means dedicating resources, time and effort where they are most needed. From a resident’s perspective, it means that they can trust professionals to have their best interests at heart.
4. Protection
Again, this is all about looking after those people who are in most need. It can also mean protecting staff, and providing the tools they need to report abuse or other issues which they become aware of. On a practical level, this could mean providing a whistleblowing helpline, or just having an open culture where all members of staff are free to raise concerns.
5. Partnership
Partnership is all about working together with all agencies and organisations involved in someone’s care. It recognises that concerns about abuse or poor treatment can come from a range of different sources from GPs to family members of the person concerned. It’s also about treating information in confidence, but knowing where you should go if someone makes you aware of a problem.
6. Accountability
The final principle is all about transparency. Not keeping things hidden and having clear procedures for dealing with issues when you’re made aware of them. People should be clear about the role they have to play and what their responsibilities are. Patients or care home residents should also be aware of the different professional who are involved in their care, and understand what their responsibilities are.
These principles overlap and interlink. Good care workers are doing most of these things already. Keep the 6 underlying principles of safeguarding in mind when applying for jobs in the sector, or if you have a relative in hospital or in a care home.
