Practice Safeguarding Children and Young People Statement
The Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre has a statutory duty of care towards children (Section 11 Children Act 2004) and young people at risk. We are committed to a best practice which safeguards children and young people irrespective of their background, and which recognises that a child may be abused regardless of their age, gender, religious beliefs, racial origin or ethnic identity, culture, class, disability or sexual orientation.
Having safeguards in place within any organisation not only protects and promotes the welfare of children and young people at risk, but also enhances the confidence of staff, volunteers, parents/carers and the general public. Protecting children and young people from abuse, neglect and exploitation, preventing impairment of health and development, and ensuring children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care enables them to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.
The Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre are committed to safeguarding children, young people at risk and have a responsibility to ensure that their practice staff know what to do if they encounter child or adult abuse of have concerns that they may be at risk of harm.
The Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre is committed to working within agreed policies and procedures and in partnership with other agencies to ensure that the risks of harm to a child or young person are minimised. This work may include direct and indirect contact with children (access to patient’s details, communication via email, text message/phone).
We aim to ensure that the Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre is a child safe practice.
All staff at the Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre have the appropriate level of safeguarding children and young people training.
Practice Safeguarding Adults with Care & Support Needs Statement
1.1 Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and aims to protect people’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, and enable them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect.
2 The aims of safeguarding adults are to:
- Stop abuse, neglect, and exploitation wherever possible.
- Prevent harm and reduce the risk of abuse or neglect to adults/children and young people with care and support needs.
- Safeguard adults in a way that supports them in making choices and having control about how they want to live.
- Promote ‘making safeguarding personal’ (NHSE 2016) an approach that concentrates on improving life for the adults concerned.
- Raise public awareness so that communities, alongside professionals, play their part in preventing, identifying, and responding to abuse and neglect.
- Provide information and support in accessible ways ‘Accessible Information: Specification’ (NHSE 2015) directs and defines a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing, and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers, and parents, where those needs relate to a disability, impairment, or sensory loss.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/access-info-spec-fin.pdf
- Help people understand the different types of abuse, how to stay safe and what to do to raise a concern about the safety or well-being of an adult; and address what has caused the abuse or neglect.
3 The Care Act 2014 sets out the statutory framework for safeguarding adults, stating that Local Authorities are required to make enquiries into allegations of abuse or neglect. Safeguarding is mainly aimed at people with care and support needs who may be in vulnerable circumstances and at risk of abuse or neglect by others. In these cases, local services must work together to identify those at risk and take steps to protect them.
4 Local Authority (LA) statutory safeguarding duties apply equally to those adults with care and support needs regardless of whether those needs are being met, regardless of whether the adult lacks mental capacity or not, and regardless of setting.
5 The support and protection of adults at risk cannot be achieved by a single agency, every service has a responsibility. The Practice staff are not responsible for making a diagnosis of adult abuse and neglect; however, they are responsible to share concerns appropriately and refer onto the LA who have the Statutory Lead. http://essexsafeguardingadults.procedures.org.uk/
Our policy outlines how the Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre will fulfil their legal duties and statutory responsibilities effectively in accordance with the Mid & South Essex Integrated Care Board Safeguarding Adults Procedures.
We aim to ensure that the Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre is An adult safe practice.
All staff at the Kelvedon & Feering Health Centre have the appropriate level of safeguarding vulnerable adult’s training.