Ngiyesaba News: DCHS9: Safeguarding and Protection in care setting

By Nqobile Mafu // DCHS9: Safeguarding and Protection in care setting level 3

1.1 EXPLAIN THE TERM "Safeguarding"

What is safeguarding?

Despite the facts that safeguarding has existed as a concept for several decades now, many people are still not aware of what it involves. Safeguarding in health and social care involves not only protecting individuals’ health, well-being and development. But also valuing their unique needs and promoting their human rights.

This article aims to give a detailed look at safeguarding, in regards to both adults and children. Why it’s an important concept within society, what it aims to achieve and some of the legislation that underpins it.

Meaning of safeguarding

Safeguarding means putting processes in place to ensure that vulnerable people are not abused in any way, including verbally or physically. This includes all procedures designed to prevent harm, also refers to the process of protecting children and adults - by providing safe and effective care

What is safeguarding defined as for adults?

Safeguarding adults is defined in the Care Act 2014 as ‘protecting an adult’s right to live in safety and free from abuse and neglect’, and can often as a result of safeguarding children. An example of this would be a social worker who works closely with a specific child, but has noticed that lately, when she visits his house, there are signs of domestic abuse against the mother, as well as abuse of an elder. There are a number of considerations that would need to be made in this situation.

What is safeguarding defined as for children?

Safeguarding children is a phrase most people will have heard of but may find it difficult to define as it is such a broad topic. The Working together to Safeguard Children 2013 guidance by HM Government provides an explanation which can be expanded to suit a wide range of environments:

“Safeguarding children - the action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm - is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play”.

The above article explains in detail of safeguarding, as I go further I will talk about the importance of this module.

1.2: EXPLAIN OWN ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN SAFEGUARDING INDIVIDUALS:

Safeguarding refers to the protection of individuals from abuse and neglect and includes both proactive and reactive measures.

As an support worker, I need a thorough understanding of my responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults, but it is also important to have an awareness of how to respond suspected abuse and neglect.

It is my responsibility to protect the individuals that I work with from harm – this could be harm that is caused by both doing something and doing nothing. For example, if an individual unexpectedly faints and I attempt to perform CPR without proper training, I could cause them harm. Similarly, if I do nothing, that could also cause them harm. Shouting for assistance looking for life signs and contacting emergency services would all be better options.

Also I should be familiar with my organisation’s agreed ways of working, policies and procedures and follow them to ensure that I work in a way that is safe and legal. Also I should be alert to signs and symptoms of abuse and to alert the appropriate person if I believe abuse is occurring in any form

1.3 DEFINE THE FOLLOWINGS TERMS:

PHYSICAL ABUSE: Physical abuse involves the use of force by punching, hitting, slapping, pinching, just to mention a few. It is a form of physical attack on an individual, or a deliberate physical injury to a child or an adult, it can also be a wilful or neglectful failure to prevent physical injury.

DOMESTIC ABUSE: Domestic abuse can also referred as domestic violence includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse in couple relationships or between family members. Domestic abuse can happen against women and against men, and anybody can be an abuser. You don't have to wait for an emergency situation to seek help. If domestic abuse is happening to you, it's important to tell someone and remember you're not alone.

You can:

talk to your doctor, health visitor or midwife

women can call 0808 2000 247, the free 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge

men can call the Men's Advice Line free on 0808 801 0327 (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) or ManKind on 01823 334 244

in an emergency, call 999

please find the link of domestic abuse videos that may be useful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVqfzNGX6IE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL-8C12lsu0

EMOTIONAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE: This is a situation where an individual becomes a victim of abuse in the hand of someone he or she trust inevitably, going to cause emotional distress.

SEXUAL ABUSE: Whether of adults or children, can also involve abuse of power. Children can never be considered to give informed consent to any sexual activity of any description. In some adult’s consent may not be given and the sexual activity is either forced on the individual against their will to participate in any form of sexual activity. Please see the video for more info sexual abuse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmdYJ5tVLA

FINANCIAL OR MATERIAL ABUSE: Is the use of a person’s funds and belongings without their permission. This could be theft, fraud, internet scamming, coercion in relation to an adult’s financial affairs or arrangements, including in connection to wills, property, inheritance or financial transactions, or the misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits

MODERN SLAVERY: did not end with abolition in the 19th century. Instead, it changed its forms and continues to harm people in every country in the world.

Whether they are women forced into prostitution, men forced to work in agriculture or construction, children in sweatshops or girls forced to marry older men, their lives are controlled by their exploiters, they no longer have a free choice and they have to do as they’re told. They are in slavery.

Can affect people of any age, gender or race; however, most commonly, slavery affects people and communities who are vulnerable to being taken advantage of.

It can be someone living in poverty and having no real prospects for a decent job, who will accept a good sounding offer of a job abroad that turns out something else that what was promised. For example a young girl who happens to live in a society where early marriage is completely acceptable, who will have no choice over marrying an older man.

Discriminatory - Ill treatment based on race, sexuality, gender, age or a person's disability

This type of Abuse is motivated by discriminatory and oppressive attitudes towards people on the grounds of disability, gender and gender identity and reassignment, age, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, and political beliefs.

It may be a feature of any form of abuse and manifests itself as physical abuse/assault, sexual abuse/assault, financial abuse/theft, neglect and psychological abuse/harassment. It includes verbal abuse and racist, sexist, homophobic or ageist comments, or jokes or any other form of harassment. It also includes not responding to dietary needs and not providing appropriate spiritual support.

Institutional/organisational abuse Organisational or institutional abuse, neglect and poor care happens within an institution such as a residential home or a hospital, it can also happen in a person’s own home. This form of abuse is often as a result of an imbalance of power poor policies, processes and practices within an organisation.

This may range from one-off incidents to on-going mistreatment.

The types of organisational or institutional abuse include:

· Discouraging visits or the involvement of relatives or friends

· Run-down or overcrowded establishment

· Authoritarian management or rigid regimes

· Lack of leadership and supervision

· Insufficient staff or high turnover resulting in poor quality care

SELF NEGLECT: This happens when the individual is ill or depressed and unable to make effort or not feel capable of looking after themselves and lack of personal hygiene and failure to protect the individual from exposure to any kind of danger.

NEGLECT BY OTHERS: Neglect can happen because those responsible for providing the care examples families or carers do not realise its importance, or because they cannot be bothered, or choose not to provide it and as a result the individual may become ill, hungry, cold, dirty, injured or deprived of their rights.

1.4:DESCRIBE HARM: Harm is a term generally used to describe physical injury, pain and death but can also include non-physical mistreatment such as emotional or financial abuse. It includes all harmful conduct and, in particular, includes:

conduct which causes physical harm
conduct which causes psychological harm, for example, causing fear, alarm or distress
unlawful conduct which appropriates or adversely affects property, rights or interests - for example, theft, fraud, embezzlement or extortion
conduct which causes self-harm

1.5 DESCRIBE RESTRICTIVE: are ways in which people involved in an industry, trade, or profession protect their own interests, rather than having a system which is fair to the public, employers, and other workers.

Sometimes people behave in ways that might hurt themselves, hurt other people or break things. These ways of behaving are called “challenging behaviours”.

Service providers sometimes try to stop or help challenging behaviour by touching the person or changing what happens around them.

This kind of support might be hurtful, harmful or does not respect the rights of the person. The kind of support that might be hurtful or harmful is called restrictive practices.

Service providers need to look at other ways to help the person. Using restrictive practices might show that a service provider does not really understand why a behaviour is happening.

1.2: IDENTIFY THE SIGNS AND /OR SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH TYPE OF ABUSE

PHYSICAL: Bruises, injuries, scratches, burns or bites marks on the body.

Physical abuse - Punching, Kicking Scratching, Slapping, Biting, Scalding, Pulling hair, Poking Pinching, Pushing, Shoving, Burning, Binding limbs, Choking, Beating, Cutting, Starvation

SIGNS OR SYMPTOMS - Injuries that have not received medical attention, frequent or regular falls and injuries, bruising in areas not normally bruised (Inside of thighs or arms) burns or scalds in unusual places, ulcers, sores or rashes caused by bed wetting, loss of confidence, lack of interest in appearance, sleeping problems, feeling depressed

Types of abuse	Definition	Signs/symptoms
Physical abuse	Physical harm to an individual's body from, for example, hitting, restrictive practices and medication	Untreated or unexplained injuries including cut, bruises, burns, bites, hair loss etc.
Domestic abuse	Threats, violence and abuse between individuals that are family members or in an intimate relationship.	Domestic abuse can be recognised by the signs of one or more of the other types of abuse or neglect.
Sexual abuse	Sexual relationships or activities that an individual does not or cannot consent to.	Pain or bruising around the inner thigh, anal or breast areas. Pain/discomfort when walking or sitting. Bloodstained underwear. Unexplained STIs/pregnancy
Emotional/psychological abuse	Threats, humiliation, controlling behaviour, blaming, verbal abuse, harassment, intimidation.	Anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, poor self-esteem and self confidence
Financial/material abuse	Use of an individual's money or possessions without permission. Includes theft, fraud, scamming, coercion, and self-serving involvement in an individual's financial affairs.	Not having enough money for bills or food. Expenditure appearing unusually high. Missing possessions or monies. Poor living conditions.
Modern slavery	Individuals being treated differently due to personal traits such as age, gender, race, sexual orientation etc.	Verbal abuse or harassment Disrespect Lack of person centred approaches Exclusion
Institutional/organisational abuse	When an organisation's needs are put above an individual's needs e.g. telling an individual that they have to go to bed at a certain time	Inflexibility Poor staff knowledge and training Non person-centred approaches Poor standards
Self-neglect	An individual being unable to see to their own basic needs, such as nutrition or hygiene	Malnutrition Dehydration Dirty clothes/bedding Poor hygiene Taking medication incorrectly Bedsores
Neglect by others	People responsible for an individual not seeing to their basic needs such as nutrition or hygiene either deliberately or inadvertently.	Malnutrition Dehydration Dirty clothes/bedding Poor hygiene Taking medication incorrectly Bedsores

NOTE: The signs and symptoms above are by no means exhaustive and will vary between individuals.Some individuals are unable to protect themselves from abuse, for example someone with a mental disability may not have the capacity to understand that they are being abused, so it is vital that others, such as family or support staff are there to look out for their well-being. In addition, there are many factors that make an individual more vulnerable to abuse. Again, reduced mental capacity can lead to an individual being taken advantage of as can low self-esteem, depression and other mental illnesses such as paranoid schizophrenia.

2.2: DESCRIBE FACTORS THAT MAY CONTRIBUTE TO AN INDIVIDUAL BEING MORE VULNERABLE TO ABUSE

There are a lot of factors that can contribute to a person being more vulnerable to abuse some of these factors include physical disability (in-ability to walk or being confine to a wheel chair), learning difficulties, the elderly (old age) and young adult with social and communication problems. All these can contribute to the degree of vulnerability to abuse.

If the dependent has communication problems or has personality or behavioural changes (such as dementia) rejects help or is aggressive; or when there are no supports from family or professional carers; if the dependent person is difficult, inconsiderate or ungrateful; a carer being young and immature or feeling unable to carry on, carer and cared for person having history of a troubled relationship or under financial or housing pressure.

Also, poor quality of staff training, lack of knowledge and understanding by staffs, inadequate staffing numbers, culture of bullying of staff by management and organisational culture which fails to treat people with dignity and respect as individuals can contribute to the staff maltreating the people they support.

3.1: EXPLAIN THE ACTIONS TO TAKE IF THERE ARE SUSPICIONS THAT AN INDIVIDUAL IS BEING ABUSED

Firstly, I will follow the policies and procedures of the company and the agreed ways of reporting a suspected abuse. Therefore, gathering first-hand information about who is the suspected abuser as well as the alleged victim is important. The type of abuse that is happening, where and how the abuse took place must be noted down.

Secondly, recording and reporting suspected abuse to my appropriate manager or supervisor is then done. Confidentiality is maintained throughout the process of investigating the suspected abuse.

If someone makes an allegation of abuse to you, the first and most important response is that you must believe what you are told.

One of the biggest fears of those being abused is that no one believes them and that is somehow their fault; do not make this fear into reality.You must reassure them that you believe them and is not their fault and that they are in no way to blame for what has happened to them. After reassuring the person that you believe them, you should report the allegation immediately to a senior colleague and hand over responsibility. Remember, it is not your role to investigate! Except you are the head in terms of being the manager!

3.2: EXPLAIN THE ACTIONS TO TAKE IF AN INDIVIDUAL ALLEGES THAT THEY ARE BEING ABUSED

The person can write a written statement which must then be acted on. This is then given to the manager of supervisor in charge of dealing directly to the abused person.

The abused person or victim must then provide details of the report on the abuse which should be dated and signed by at least two people. If its physical injury the uses of photography can be very important. Report the problem to your line manager or supervisor, any information you have whether it is simple concerns, hard evidence, or a disclosure, it must be carefully recorded, and all observations written down.

You must use your basic communication and listening skills so that the person knows they can trust you and that you are listening. Make sure you concentrate and try to remember as much as possible of what you are told so that you can record accurately all actual facts. And when it is written down the evidence may be needed by the social worker who will investigate the situation. The doctor might need it to conduct an examination of which is rely on the future investigation or court proceedings.

3.3: IDENTIFY WAYS TO ENSURE THAT EVIDENCE OF ABUSE IS PRESERVED.

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires you to ensure that any written information is kept securely. Information about abuse or potential abuse is very sensitive and it is important that people have their right to privacy and confidentiality respected. Information must be kept in a secure situation, password protected if it is kept electronically and with any hard copies filed securely in a locked cabinet. Make sure that only essential and necessary information is kept, and that it is used for the abused person’s benefit and in their best interest.

Whilst one’s first concern will be the immediate well-being of the victim, your efforts to preserve evidence may be vital. When Police involvement is required following suspected physical or sexual abuse, they are likely to be on the scene quickly. To enable the Police to investigate effectively, it is imperative that vital evidence is preserved. For that short time before the Police arrive, what you do or do not do, can make a vital difference.

4.1: IDENTIFY NATIONAL POLICIES AND LOCAL SYSTEMS THAT RELATE TO SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTION FROM ABUSE.

There are a number of national policies and local systems that relate to the protection and safeguarding of abuse, these include the following, the independent safeguarding authority (ISA), Criminal Record Bureau (CRB checks), this will ensure that people that have abused in the past are not recruited for sensitive positions with individuals, Department of Health (DOH 2000), Care Quality Commission, In Safe Hands, the Local safeguarding Adult Board, and the Local Area System.

Both nationally and locally, the protection of vulnerable adult’s forms part of the safeguarding adults’ agenda. Local authorities now have safeguarding adults’ boards; these mirror the local safeguarding children boards, except that they do not have the statutory basis and powers of children’s boards.

The local boards are responsible for delivering a multi-agency response to safeguarding adults and exist to ensure that all the partner agencies are recognising and acting on safeguarding issues at a strategic and an individual level.

The local board will have members from social services, the voluntary sector, police, housing and health as a minimum, and possibly other areas such as leisure, transport and highways. They are also responsible for conducting serious case reviews when someone has died as the result of abuse and there are lessons to be learned.

For more info

The Equality Act 2010 – protects individuals from discriminatory abuse
The Human Rights Act 1998 – sets out specific rights an freedoms of all people such as the right to liberty and security and the freedom from slavery and forced labour
The Care Act 2014 – makes the local authority responsible for following up suspicions or allegations of abuse and setting up multidisciplinary boards to review cases when people die as a result of abuse or neglect
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 – protects individuals that do not have the capacity to make choices for themselves
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 – protects vulnerable individuals by ensuring that workers that have contact with them (e.g. care workers etc.) have had relevant background checks (Disclosure and Barring Service)

4:2 EXPLAIN THE ROLES OF DIFFERENT AGENCIES IN SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTING INDIVIDUALS FROM ABUSE

There are a lot of roles played by different agencies that try to protect individuals from abuse. These agents include health care workers or assistants, nurses, health visitors, advocates, domiciliary workers, social workers. All of these agents’ roles differ from each other but their main responsibilities are to oversee the safeguarding of vulnerable adults. Again, they play the responsibilities of providing adequate information about the various activities and results to the proper safeguarding.

For example, The “Quality protects” initiative in the late 1990’s began a change in attitude and professionals began to recognise that the improving the quality of children’s services was an effective means of safeguarding against abuse, but it was the introduction of Sure Start and Connexions which really made it clear that children and young people are an integral part of society and that there has to be a ‘whole system’ rather than separate parts just working together.

The 2007 white paper ‘our health our care our say,’ quickly followed by ‘putting people first’ set out the agenda for empowering people to take control of their services and support.

4.3: IDENTIFY FACTORS WHICH HAVE FEATURED IN REPORTS INTO SERIOUS CASE OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT.

Abuse is extremely serious, it is potentially life threatening. Systems and rules have been developed by learning from tragedies that have happened in the past. Many of these tragedies occurred because procedures either where not in place or were not followed.

But if any abusive behaviour was reported and not followed this may lead to a death of an individual or into serious injury of which the organisation will be put into problems and investigation the carer that abused the individual will face the law.

An example from The Care Quality Commission is the published details of the enforcement action it has taken against Castlebeck Care (Teesdale) Ltd which failed to protect the safety and welfare of patients at Winterbourne View.After considering a range of evidence inspectors conclude that the registered provider, Castlebeck Care (Teesdale) Ltd, had failed to ensure that people living at Winterbourne View were adequately protected from risk, including the risks of unsafe practices by its own staff. The report concludes that there was a systemic failure to protect people or to investigate allegations of abuse.

Another example is the death of Baby P in 2007 reports by the Haringey council showed the abuse of a baby boy.

Also the death of Victoria Climbie in 2000, reports identified an abuse. The death of Micheal Gilbert in 2009 by the Bedfordshire council elaborates on the torture and final death of Michael Gilbert.

Khyra Ishaq in 2010 reviewed by the Birmingham Social Service reviewed that Khyra died out of starvation.Another major report on abuse which was taken into account was unsafe practices at Hillcroft nursing home in Slyne-with-Hest near Lancaster (May 2010 – September 2011) In its report, it states that nursing home staff neglected, emotionally and physically abused persons with a lack of capacity under The Mental Capacity Act 2000 because they would have no memory of the abuse and they couldn’t report it by themselves.

4.4: IDENTIFY SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ADVICE ABOUT OWN ROLE IN SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTING INDIVIDUALS FROM ABUSE

Safeguarding and protecting vulnerable adults and children is an area of work that a great research has been carried out and plenty of information is made available in order to improve and develop the understanding of this difficult subject.

The key role of this subject is to attend mandatory Safeguarding of vulnerable Adults (SOVA) training each year, I will be aware of the Legislation's dedicated to abuse and my role in safeguarding vulnerable adults. My workplace policies and procedures will detail my specific work role in regards safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse. also there are many system in tackling this subject it can be finding training courses available in local area, social service departments, private agencies like NSPCC just to mention a few.

4.5: EXPLAIN HOW THE LIKELIHOOD OF ABUSE MAY BE REDUCED BY WORKING WITH PERSON-CENTRED VALUES, ENCOURAGING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AND PROMOTING CHOICE AND RIGHTS

For abuse to be reduced it is important to apply all these values in every aspect of the work you do every day. Person centred value means building everything I do around the person I am working with, by making people take control of the planning and delivery of their own support and care services will make them know about their care and the people that work with them, also the type of support that is been given to them. Also abuse is reduced by person centred values because the person’s needs preferences and choices will be used to develop an agreed care plan. In doing so, it will allow carers to be able to spot changes in a person’s character or routine, which may indicate a problem. Also it means the service will be built around the person’s needs and not the carers

Encouraging active participation which means to support them to be as independent as possible of which will make carers to recognise that working with them is like partnership rather than a relationship that is controlled by professionals. Promoting choice and rights means giving the access to their rights and to exercise their choice over issues and treating them as individuals rather than as a group of people which normally lead to abuse.

Involving that person in their care so that choice, dignity and respect are addressed fully. This will increase a person’s self-esteem and confidence. It will also build up a relationship of trust, between you and the person, where they will feel comfortable in discussing any problems or issues with you.

Person centred values are very important at the workplace, it reduces the occurrence of abuse, therefore promoting dignity, privacy, choice, independence, maximising confidence. It therefore reduces the event of abuse at the workplace.

5.2 EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF AN ACCESSIBLE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE FOR REDUCING THE LIKELIHOOD OF ABUSE

Accessible complaint procedures are very important in every organisation. This is because agreed procedures must be documented and published and must highly be visible. Accessible complaint procedures are essential for reducing the occurrence of such clear system for recording and reporting.

The most important first step is to ensure that you know the procedures in your workplace for dealing with abuse or neglect.

All work places should have policy and procedures of accessible complaints so that the individuals will know the vital importance and be familiar with what to do and who to complain or report to, which will enable them to pass information on to the right source to deal with and when this is in place the likelihood of abuse will be reduced.

5.3 Outline how the likelihood of abuse can be reduced by managing risk and focusing on prevention.

The only way to reduce the likelihood of abuse happening in a care setting is by managing risk and focusing on prevention.

When we talk about risk, in other terms will be talking about balancing the risks against the rights of the individual.

Risk enablement is a person-centred approach that takes into account person-centred values such as respect and choice. It involves supporting individuals that are receiving care to collaborate on the assessment of their own risks and make their own decisions, rather than care staff making decisions on their behalf.

Also risk of a abuse can be dropped when individuals have active participation in their care provision because they are more likely to understand their rights and know when something might not be quite right. They will also be more likely to speak up if they have concerns.

6.1: DESCRIBE UNSAFE PRACTICES THAT MAY AFFECT THE WELL- BEING OF INDIVIDUALS

Unsafe practices at the workplace include neglect of duty of personal are such as bathing, washing, toileting dressing inappropriately, feeding and unsafe administration of medication can be very dangerous as well as breaching of confidentiality and failure to update knowledge and safeguarding issues.

Another unsafe practice is when a worker is drinking alcohol and gets drunk while at work. This might affect the well-being of individuals who they care for

If a career is meant to be using equipment’s in carrying out his or her duty and then decides to make use of a manual approach, this might affect the well-being of the individual as harm can be caused while carrying out this duty manually. Individual’s well-being can also be affected if a worker is not well trained in what he is doing.

In a situation the care worker is distressed or angry about something he or she needs to deal with it sensibly because it may lead to unsafe practice which abuse if not dealt with and will affect the individual’s wellbeing.

In additional unsafe practice also includes

· Staff shortages

· staff are too tired to do their job correctly

· staff “cut corners” due to lack of time

· Agency staff not knowing service users correct needs Lack of training

· Inexperienced staff “acting up” in a senior role

· Staff not trained in their role correctly Lack of correct equipment

· No PPE available

6.2: EXPLAIN THE ACTIONS TO TAKE IF UNSAFE PRACTICE HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED

Firstly, it is important to report concerns to a manager or supervisor immediately. But the company’s policies and procedures must always be adhered to and followed. Again, the use of verbal and written action, as well as the using policies of whistles blowing, can all be used to address unsafe practices. Each local authority must have a multi-agency local safeguarding adult’s board for the protection of vulnerable adults.

This committee is responsible for setting out procedures and policies, identifying and protecting those at risk, and ensuring each agency has an appropriate response to abuse.

It is likely that the procedure for your workplace in relation to abuse by a professional carer involve immediate suspension of the person accused, investigation by the police or independent agency if appropriate or the organisation will give the carer a disciplinary action.

DESCRIBE THE ACTION TO TAKE IF SUSPECTED ABUSE OR UNSAFE PRACTICES HAVE BEEN REPORTED BUT NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE IN RESPONSE

You may want to blow the whistle about the way an organisation is run, or the quality of a service. You could find yourself working in an organisation where standards are not being met and vulnerable people are being abused because of the policies and procedures of the organisation rather than through the behaviour of any particular person.

If you suspect abuse or unsafe practices, in this situation, you should contact your local inspectorate or the local Safeguarding Adults Board.

• Reporting to the social services

• Reporting to the police

• Unsafe practices should be challenged immediately and prevented from continuing. If you are not able to do this yourself (for example, if others do not listen to you) then you should report your concerns to your manager or supervisor.

7.1: DESCRIBE THE POTENTIAL RISKS PRESENTED BY:

he use of electronic communication devices
the use of the internet
the use of social networking sites
Carrying out financial transactions online.

With the exponential rise of the Internet over the last few decades, vulnerable adults are now much more likely to be victims of abuse through online activity so it is important that we have an awareness of the potential risks. The use of social media, mobile phones, emails and the internet are popular amongst children and young people and can be a normal part of their everyday life. These methods of communication can be efficient and easily accessed for most but it is important that certain safeguarding is applied to ensure safety.

The below table illustrate list of possible risk:

Describe the potential risk presented by the use of electronic communication devices:
Activity	Risks	Summery
Use of electronic communication devices e.g. mobile phones, tablets etc.	Risk will involve Harassment Cyber-bullying, Grooming Blackmail and Viruses or even you can get Hacked.	Vulnerable people often find it easier to communicate via electronic means rather than talking face-to-face. This creates a false sense of security and can lead them to sharing more personal or sensitive information about themselves (or someone else) than if they were talking in person.
Use of the Interne	Potential to break the law by accessing illegal material Viewing of upsetting material e.g. pornography or violence Extremism/radicalisation	The internet has transformed modern life. Many individuals with learning disabilities use the internet to access benefits, entertainment, socialising just to mention a few. People with learning disabilities need extra care and being watched to help keep them safe online.
Use of social networking sites	Harassment Manipulation Cyber-bullying Grooming Blackmail	Social networking sites allow someone to post information that thousands of other users can read.
Carrying out financial transactions online	Fraud Scams Unwittingly or being coerced into transferring monies to unscrupulous individuals