In response to the Government’s consultation on strengthening protection for vulnerable adults, new legislation will be introduced to enshrine in law the need for every local area to have in place a Safeguarding Adults Board – a body made up of the local social services authority, the police, the NHS and working with all other groups involved in protecting vulnerable adults. The board will ensure that vulnerable adults who suffer abuse will have quick and easy access to the people who can help them best.
The Government, working with stakeholders, will now set in train a programme of work to lead and support all agencies involved in safeguarding adults. It will ensure that everyone involved in the care of vulnerable adults has the skills to protect them.
There will also be a new cross Government Ministerial group which will oversee the safeguarding of vulnerable adults, set priorities, work up new policy and provide national leadership.
Commenting on the announcement that new legislation will be introduced to enshrine the need for every local area to have in place a Safeguarding Adults Board, Jo Webber, deputy director at the NHS Confederation, which represents over 95 per cent of NHS organisations, said:
“It is absolutely right that measures should be in place that brings together all the relevant bodies to help safeguard the most vulnerable people in our communities.
“While new structures will help, they can only be part of the overall solution that we have learned from previous tragedies which is to focus on the vulnerable while making sure frontline staff are well-trained, free to do their jobs and supported in making the tough decisions they face every day.”
To read the Department of Health’s press release visit the news section of their website.