A response to “A preventable death? A family’s perspective on an adult safeguarding review regarding an adult with traumatic brain injury”
| Pages | 4-9 |
| Published date | 13 February 2017 |
| Date | 13 February 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-01-2017-0002 |
| Author | Pete Morgan |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse |
A response to “A preventable death?
A family’s perspective on an adult
safeguarding review regarding an
adult with traumatic brain injury”
Pete Morgan
Abstract
Purpose –To reflect on the particular case from a professional’s perspective to provide, in conjunction with
the original article, a more holistic overview of some of its implications for safeguarding practice and, by
definition, for the provision of health and social care support services to individuals with a traumatic brain
injury and their families. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –A response to an already published article.
Findings –That a lack of “professional curiosity”on the part of practitioners across a range of professions
and agencies led to a failure to initiate safeguarding processes and procedures appropriately, resulting in
avoidable damage to the subject of the article, the author’s partner and their families.
Practical implications –There is a need for a greater awareness and understanding of the implications of
traumatic brain injuries across health and social care services: that hospital discharge planning and
community support services need to be more flexible in identifying and meeting the needs of patients with
traumatic brain injury, that there is no substitute for “professional curiosity”in ensuring that assessments are
holistic, and that services are appropriate and multi-agency working is effective.
Originality/value –This is a response to an existing publication.
Keywords Mental health, Traumatic brain injury, Mental capacity, Safeguarding adults,
Hospital discharge planning, Substance misuse
Paper type Viewpoint
This paper is a privilege if not a pleasure to be asked to write, but also a difficult task to complete
to a satisfactory standard. The honesty and openness of the original article made it a painful but
delightful read but its strength was that it was written from a family member’s perspective and
therefore brought a unique understanding and awareness of safeguarding practice to a subject
that is often only written about from a professional’s perspective. The difficulty that this brings
with it is that there are details of Tom’s life and the experiences of his family and significant others
which are missing. These include information about the exact nature of Tom’s behaviour and the
nature of any support offered to or provided to Tom and his carers. I have tried to avoid making
any unnecessary or unreasonable assumptions to fill in some of these gaps, but some
assumptions have had to be made to avoid too many qualifications and possibilities having to be
explored. I apologise to Tom’s family if, by doing so, I either cause any offence or upset or pursue
an irrelevant chain of thought. It also has to be recognised that, in fairness to the professionals
who were involved with Tom and those round him, my comments are based entirely on his
sister’s article and cannot therefore be totally impartial.
It has to be remembered that Tom’s experience of health and social care services extends over more
than 20 years and a range of legislation, including new legislation that came in to effect during that
period of time. It is all pre-Care Act and what might be expected now in terms of care and support
Received 13 January 2017
Revised 13 January 2017
Accepted 18 January 2017
Pete Morgan is the Director at
P Morgan Consultancy
Services, Daventry, UK and
Chair of the Board of Trustees
at PASAUK (the Practitioner
Alliance for Safeguarding
Adults), London, UK.
PAG E 4
j
THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
j
VOL. 19 NO. 1 2017, pp. 4-9, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203 DOI 10.1108/JAP-01-2017-0002
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