Safeguarding Adults is everybody’s business

It was clear from the results of the survey we carried out in 2021 that the great majority of respondents had a good or better understanding of the general parameters of safeguarding and were able to identify the key forms that safeguarding needs may take. They were also aware of the key agencies and other possible avenues for reporting safeguarding concerns. But there was also uncertainty about who best to turn to in the event of discovering something untoward.

This is reinforced by the 2022 survey. There is reasonable awareness of what constitutes safeguarding but not how to report it.

This reinforces the view that there may be a need to reach out to local voluntary organisations and agencies that are not normally thought of as part of the usual safeguarding networks to ensure that they are apprised of the actions to take if they are approached by someone with a safeguarding issue.

People’s priorities for keeping adults safe featured support for those providing safeguarding and raising awareness of the different types of abuse, with a range of types of abuse featuring. Perhaps of greater interest is the list of suggestions for “other priorities” in Question 7, including the suggestion that the need for protection of adults for special needs does not end at the threshold age of 25 and that men, as well as women, can be vulnerable.