Safeguarding

  • We can assist care home providers to deal with safeguarding alerts and investigations including attending strategy meetings and negotiating with safeguarding coordinators.
  • Meetings with safeguarding personnel can be very intimidating, even humiliating, and the process is often unfair to care providers, who can be summoned before the panel with scarcely any idea of the substance of the allegations or concerns being raised.  In such situations skilled representation can be invaluable in ensuring that the safeguarding process is conducted fairly i.e. that the provider is able to present a proper case and is listened to impartially rather than bullied into submission. We cannot perform miracles but our well–informed support usually guarantees a fair hearing.
  • We have considerable experience in helping clients work through the often complex issues that arise during safeguarding cases, where in addition to acting decisively to secure or restore compliance it is so important to strike the right tone in discussions in order to retain credibility and trust with the local authority and CQC.

Case study

Our client is the proprietor of three mental illness care homes and was trapped in a nightmarish safeguarding scenario resulting from allegations of financial abuse, made worse by a disastrous breakdown in communication and trust between her company and the local social services. By the time the owner asked us to become involved the local authority had already started to remove residents from the homes (irrespective of their wishes) and the threat of financial collapse was looming large. We immediately drew up a credible and effective short to medium term action plan to address the major concerns being expressed and by demonstrating a firm commitment to sustained improvements were able to help rebuild local confidence in the company as a service provider and save the business. To steady the ship we also formally supervised the home managers for six months and advised on restructuring the management team. Ultimately we recruited a new very high calibre Operations Manager for the group who has subsequently been able to build on the foundations we established with the result that the homes are now attracting new referrals and operating profitably. The head of the local safeguarding team told us that without our input the business would undoubtedly have gone under. Our client has also recognised the value of our expertise in this very tricky situation.