The protection of vulnerable adults is a fast emerging area of work for local authorities, the NHS and other agencies. Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults and the Law, sets this within a comprehensive legal framework. The relevant law and guidance is extensive. It includes Department of Health guidance (No Secrets), human rights, the regulation of health and social care providers, the barring of carers from working with vulnerable adults, care standards tribunal cases, mental capacity, undue influence, assault, battery, wilful neglect, ill treatment, manslaughter, murder, theft, fraud, sexual offences, data protection and the sharing of information. The book focuses on how these areas of law apply to vulnerable adults, and brings together an extensive body of case law to illustrate this. Also covered is how local authorities and the NHS may themselves be implicated in the harm - through abuse, neglect or omission - suffered by vulnerable adults. For example, in terms of the gross lapses in standards of care, infection control, nutrition and basic dignity sometimes to be found in hospitals. All those working in community care, adult social work, health care and housing will find this book invaluable. Local authorities, the NHS, voluntary organisations and students will find this to be essential reading.

This fully-revised Second Edition looks at how practitioners and students can achieve best-practice when working with vulnerable adults. The first part of the book explores the evolution of concepts and policies for safeguarding adults, with particular reference to the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Capacity Act 2005. In the second section the focus shifts to good practice in empowering vulnerable adults. The final section focuses on developing effective professional and inter-professional practice.

Practice in safeguarding adults is changing, with a shift in approach to ensure it is person-centred and outcome-focused. The Care Act 2014 introduced new safeguarding duties for local authorities, and this book describes what up-to-date practice should look like, and how to provide the best quality care and support for adults who may be at risk of abuse or neglect. Chapters cover core areas of practice according to Care Act and adult safeguarding principles, identify the fundamental skills and knowledge practitioners working in this area should be able to utilise and introduce the emerging challenging issues in the workplace. As well as being invaluable to practitioners working directly in this field, this is also ideally suited to be a text for any social work course or programme on adult safeguarding practice.

Provides busy social work and health care practitioners with an accessible guide to adult safeguarding in the context of mental capacity and financial abuse. Drawing on evidence and contemporary examples from practice this book will help readers understand the new landscape of safeguarding adults since the implementation of the Care Act 2014 and the introduction of Adult Safeguarding Boards. There are chapters on the current political landscape of adult social work, specific issues and contexts that make people vulnerable (social isolation, mental capacity, dementia), and important methods of assessment and intervention. A range of pedagogical features are also used to aid learning and understanding including the use of case studies, reflection points, brief exercises and further reading.

The protection of vulnerable adults is an increasingly important issue right across health and social care. Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults and the Law, now in its second edition, sets this complex area of work within a comprehensive legal framework and provides extensive guidance for practitioners and students. The book covers Department of Health guidelines, human rights, the regulation of health and social care providers, the barring of carers from working with vulnerable adults, care standards tribunal cases, mental capacity, undue influence, assault, battery, willful neglect, ill treatment, manslaughter, murder, theft, fraud, sexual offences, data protection and the sharing of information. It focuses on how these areas of law apply to vulnerable adults, and brings together an extensive body of case law to illustrate this. Also covered is how local authorities and the NHS may themselves be implicated in the harm - through abuse, neglect or omission - suffered by vulnerable adults. This fully-updated second edition comprehensively reflects recent changes to the law, and includes many new case studies. This book will be an invaluable resource for all those working in community care, adult social work, health care and housing. Those working for local authorities, the NHS, voluntary organizations and students will find it to be essential reading.

All nurses, whatever setting, will encounter people who are at risk. Harrowing examples of abuse and neglect are frequently in the headlines and the nursing profession has a crucial responsibility to play in ensuring that vulnerable patients are cared for and safeguarded. This Second Edition answers all of the key questions including: What is neglect? What makes someone vulnerable? What role does safeguarding play? What does good safeguarding look like? Why can safeguarding fail? How can positive practice be developed? What are the professional and legal responsibilities facing nurses? This helpful resource will improve readers’ understanding of the policy, practice, and research underpinning safeguarding, while also preparing them for their important role as an advocate for, and safeguarder of, the people in their care.

This book provides a nuanced and timely contribution to the question of vulnerability in police custody. It addresses the implementation of the appropriate adult safeguard in respect of adult suspects and explores police decision-making in this context. Drawing on empirical research carried out in England, the work takes a socio-legal approach to examine how and why police custody officers implement or not the appropriate adult safeguard. The book’s core arguments are addressed within three parts. Part I examines how vulnerability is constructed philosophically and practically, firstly within the broader literature, thereafter at common law and in statute, and finally by police custody officers. Part 2 discusses how vulnerability is identified and how decisions are made in response to vulnerability. Part 3 critically assesses the theoretical understandings of police decision-making and criminal justice. Here it is argued that current theories on police decision-making hold explanatory power yet have significant shortcomings in relation to vulnerability and the appropriate adult safeguard. The book thus presents new theoretical insights and, on the basis of these insights, asserts that the current regime of regulation must be reconsidered, while police compliance may only be ensured if vulnerability is radically reconceptualised.