Joining up adult protection and the disciplinary process*

Journal of Adult Protection, The, May 2006 by West, Steve

abstract

Behaviour that is in fact adult abuse may be reported through a number of different frameworks (for example complaints procedures and incident reporting procedures) without it being realised that adult protection procedures need to be activated as well. This paper will examine how adult abuse can be reported through the disciplinary framework, and therefore how adult protection and the disciplinary process need to be joined.

key words

adult protection

agency responsibilities

disciplinary process

No Secrets

No Secrets - guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse - was produced by the Department of Health and the Home Office in March 2000. This envisaged that local authority Social Services departments should play a coordinating role in developing the local policies and procedures for the protection of vulnerable adults from abuse (Section 1: paragraph 1.4). In that sense, Social Services is the lead adult protection agency (Section 3: paragraph 3.2). The guidance was commended to all commissioners and providers of health and social care services including primary care groups, regulators of such care services and appropriate criminal justice agencies, and its relevance to many other agencies was noted (Section 1: paragraph 1.3; Section 3: paragraph 3.3).

No Secrets emphasises the multi-agency nature of adult protection, as indicated by its subtitle (guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse). It states that agencies receiving a complaint or allegation of abuse should inform other agencies involved of the nature of the complaint or allegation and the action being taken. The lead agency should co-ordinate and monitor action and ensure that other agencies involved receive updates on progress made in the investigation unless it is unsafe and inappropriate for them to do so (Section 6: paragraph 6.12). When complaints about alleged abuse suggest that a criminal offence may have been committed it is imperative that reference should be made to the police as a matter of urgency. Criminal investigation by the police takes priority over all other lines of enquiry (Section 2: paragraph 2.8).

The way that the No Secrets guidance has been interpreted nationally is that any concern, suspicion or allegation about abuse of a vulnerable adult should be reported to Social Services, in order for them to co-ordinate the adult protection part of the response. That is certainly the case within Peterborough and within Cambridgeshire. The whole thrust of our message is that adult protection is a multi-agency process, lead by Social Services.

That message is being received in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Both authorities receive more 'alerts' each year. More and more agencies understand that there is now a framework through which such matters can be channelled, and furthermore they see that it works - that through multi-agency working, focused on the issue of adult protection, the position of the vulnerable adult can normally be improved in some way. In Peterborough my colleague Joanna Palmer (Senior Practitioner, Adult Protection) and I are at the hub of the wheel of adult protection and we receive alerts from professionals from all kinds of agencies - including psychiatrists, GPs, district nurses, hospital staff, housing officers, Department for Work and Pensions officers, social care staff, solicitors, voluntary agencies, the police and probation services.

No Secrets gives the following examples of people who abuse vulnerable adults:

* relatives and family members

* professional staff

* paid care workers

* volunteers

* other service users

* friends and associates

* [strangers and people who deliberately exploit vulnerable people] (Section 2: paragraph 2.10).

Most of the alerts that we receive are about relatives and family members or paid care workers employed by care homes or domiciliary care agencies. The work of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, and the introduction of the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) Scheme, have conveyed to managers of care homes and domiciliary care agencies that allegations of abuse by staff members have to be reported to Social Services.

However, we have noted that there is a pattern of some agencies (particularly those that are not regulated by the Commission for Social Care Inspection) not reporting to Social Services concerns, suspicions or allegations about the abuse of a vulnerable adult when the person who is alleged to be behaving in that way (the perpetrator) is a professional employee of the agency. Often, when the matter is first reported, it is framed in terms of possible 'misconduct/gross misconduct', and the agency's disciplinary procedure will then be activated. That is entirely appropriate, but it is not enough: adult protection procedures should also be triggered.

We have been told various reasons why such matters are not reported as adult protection matters to Social Services: