The experience of safeguarding

In early 2019 Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board commissioned Healthwatch Surrey to

• gain rich insight into people's experience of Safeguarding
• identify best practice and challenges and understand what makes the experience worthwhile for people involved

We undertook 14 individual face to face depth interviews with people at the heart of a recently-concluded Section 42 Enquiry in summer/autumn 2019.

Key findings were - 

1. Most people we spoke to found their experience to be positive or neutral 
2. People’s minimal awareness of Safeguarding can lead to delays and harm 
3. Ignorance of the process makes it difficult for people to engage with their enquiry
4. People differ in how much involvement they want
5. People don’t start an enquiry with ‘desired outcomes’, but there are outcomes that make the experience worthwhile

We recommended

• Continue to raise awareness, relevance and accessibility of Safeguarding - target next of kin, providing information at milestones such as the start of care
• Provide written information at the start and end of an enquiry
• Assess people's desired involvement early in the process and respect this throughout
• Change metrics used to assess the value of an enquiry