The Importance of Early Reporting of any Abuse or Suspected Abuse in Care Settings

It is of utmost importance that any abuse or suspected abuse is reported promptly to Police. If you are not aware of the threshold of reporting abuse to the Police, you should immediately refresh your training / request suitable training.

Where a safeguarding concern has been raised with social care, the referrer should not assume that social care or other organisations will contact the Police.

Early involvement of the police is vital to support any criminal investigation.  Delays in reporting can delay the safeguarding of the victim, delay the apprehension of the offender, result in the loss of evidence and risk the commission of further offences against other victims.

The following immediate steps are required by the person/manager raising the concern, as contained within current SET guidance:

• Make an evaluation of the risk and take steps to ensure that the adult in need of safeguarding is in no immediate danger
• Arrange any medical treatment
• If a crime is in progress or life is at risk, dial 999 (not an emergency situation – dial 101 or complete online form)
• Encourage and support the adult at risk to report to the Police if a crime is suspected
• Take steps to preserve any evidence if a crime may have been committed, and preserve evidence through recording (i.e., retain notes, CCTV etc)
• Ensure that others are not in danger
• Establish what the adult at risk views/wishes are about the safeguarding issue, including trying to obtain consent to raise a concern
• Seeking consent with the adult at risk to share information, explaining what information will be shared and why
• If you are a paid employee or volunteer inform your manager
• Take any action in line with disciplinary procedures
• If manager is implicated, please follow your organisations whistleblowing/Human Resources processes and local LADO procedure and notify police
• If your service is registered with the Care Quality Commission, and the institute constitutes a notifiable event, send a notification
• Record the information received, risk evaluation and all actions

Essex Police are working with partners to arrange a series of inputs to Care Homes across Southend, Essex and Thurrock to further increase awareness, with further details to follow.

The current SET guidance can be accessed through the below links:

SOUTHEND (essexsab.org.uk).

Essex Safeguarding Adults Board - Guidance, Policies & Protocols (essexsab.org.uk)

Policies & Procedures | Thurrock SafeGuarding Adults (thurrocksab.org.uk)