In light of the Winterbourne View report, and of various serious case reviews, which confirmed the perception of many carers and relatives that ‘housing providers could or should have played a more effective role in adult safeguarding’, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has now published a new Guide, which aims to improve communication and joint working between housing staff and their safeguarding partners, particularly local authority social care staff with safeguarding responsibilities.
The Guide contains sections aimed at: front-line housing staff and contractors, housing managers, and local authority social care staff. It aims to raise awareness about safeguarding adults in the housing sector for all housing staff, not just those in sheltered or supported housing.
SCIE’s Chief Executive, Tony Hunter, stated: “Serious case reviews have highlighted the need for housing organisations to play a more active role in adult safeguarding. This new Guide can help housing staff and their managers to improve safeguarding practice. Their safeguarding role is important but it doesn’t need to be too burdensome for staff; it’s also the right thing to do. Effective joint working between all agencies is essential if we are going to get this right”.
The full Press Release fron SCIE is available here . From here there are links to guide itself and to the rest of the SCIE website.
Rescare approves the availabilty and quality of the guide, and hopes that it is made available, along with relevant training, to ‘front line’ staff. We also note that the guide has, to a degree, been released in anticipation of the ethos and legal requirements which will come into force when the Care Bill currently before Parliament is enacted; this will be supported by statutory and practice guidance and will ‘modernise the law so that people’s wellbeing is at the heart of the care and support system’.
And of course if you are a family carer with a relative receiving residential provision of any form, it might be interesting to look at the guide to see what instruction is available to those providing care for your relative.