Project Title
Delivering person-centred outcomes in an Adult Safeguarding Service: a route towards best practice and compliance with section 14.14 of the Care Act 2014
Type of Research
Mixed methods, to inform the development of policy and procedures in Adult Safeguarding
Background
Following a previously successful collaboration between members of the EDD Theme and Cambridgeshire County Council’s Adult Safeguarding Service (ASS) we have been invited to support the Service in revising its policies and procedures so as to ensure compliance with the Care Act 2014 (s. 42.46); specifically that safeguarding is personalised around user-defined outcomes. Revising the CCC’s safeguarding policies and procedures will be a complex task since it involves – as our previous collaboration documented – addressing the possibility of: (i) service users who live in their own homes and may not wish to engage with the safeguarding service, despite the fact they are experiencing abuse; (ii) people at risk of lacking relevant capacity who may be unaware that they are being abused, and thus not able to articulate preferred outcomes, and (iii) social care practitioners who approach the idea of person-centred outcomes with some scepticism.
Research Questions
The ASS would like us to develop our earlier work by investigating how the service might best develop and implement person-centred outcomes in adult safeguarding.
Proposed Methods
Mixed methods: the ASS has indicated that it will allow the applicants to observe staff members engaged in service re-design; access relevant databases and case reports, attend strategy and review meetings, and where appropriate approach service users for their evaluation of redesigned ASS (nobody at risk of lacking the capacity to give or withhold consent will be approached).
Expected Output of Research / Impact and added value
The project provides an opportunity to use research evidence to inform the development of policies and procedures by the local authority to meet the demands of the Care Act 2014 and promote outcomes desired by service users locally, regionally, and nationally. We will make oral presentations to Adult Safeguarding leads in the Eastern Region, provide a written report for national circulation and submit at least one paper to a peer-reviewed journal.
For further information on this project, contact Dr Isabel Clare, Consultant Clinical & Forensic Psychologist, NIHR CLAHRC East of England; and Cambridge Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
email: ichc2@medschl.cam.ac.uk
