Protection of vulnerable adults
A vulnerable adult is a person aged 18 or over who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of:
- mental disability
- physical disability
- learning disability
- age
- illness
- frailty
and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation.
What is abuse?
Abuse is the violation of an individual's human or civil
rights by any other person or persons. Abuse can range from the
small act of not treating someone with proper respect to extreme
punishment or torture. Abuse can occur within any relationship
where there is an expectation of trust and where action, or lack of
action, causes harm or distress. The most common forms of abuse
are:
- physical abuse: includes hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication, restraint and force-feeding
- sexual abuse: includes rape and sexual assault, or sexual acts to which the vulnerable adult has not consented, or could not consent, or was pressured into consenting
- psychological abuse: includes emotional abuse, threats of harm or abandonment, isolation, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, harassment, verbal abuse, threats or bribes
- neglect and acts of omission: failure to provide appropriate
care (e.g. food, medication, clothing, heating, cleanliness and
hygiene) and denying religious or cultural needs
financial or material abuse: includes theft, fraud or using a person's money, possessions or property without their consent - discriminatory abuse: includes racism, sexism, ageism and discrimination based on a person's disability or sexual orientation
Circumstances where abuse may occur
Abuse may occur in a vulnerable adult's home, a relative's or
friend's home, in nursing, residential or day care settings, in
hospitals, custodial settings, or any other public place previously
assumed safe. Abuse can occur once, several times, or it can occur
many times over a period of days, weeks, months or years.
How to get help
If you are (or have been) the victim of abuse, or you suspect
that someone is being abused, then it is important that you report
it immediately. You can:
- tell a professional that you trust, or
- contact social services or
- make a self referral to social services by completing the self referral form (word) and email it to sscallcentre@ealing.gov.uk
Social services will treat every reported incident of alleged abuse as urgent. If however you feel it is an emergency, you should contact the police by calling 999. In most instances the information you give will be treated as confidential, but information will be shared with other professionals where necessary.
Safeguarding adults protection policy and procedures
This document outlines the council's
policy and procedures (pdf) to protect
vulnerable adults from abuse.
The practitioners toolkit (pdf) is for practitioners to use when dealing with safeguarding adults cases.