The role of the general practice surgery in safeguarding adults
| Published date | 10 October 2016 |
| Pages | 288-298 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-04-2016-0006 |
| Date | 10 October 2016 |
| Author | Jeremy C. Gibson,Bill Nicol,Ed Ronayne,Michelle Grant |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse |
The role of the general practice surgery
in safeguarding adults
Jeremy C. Gibson, Bill Nicol, Ed Ronayne and Michelle Grant
Jeremy C. Gibson is a Named
General Practitioner for
Safeguarding Adults, Bill Nicol
is the Head of Adult
Safeguarding, Ed Ronayne is a
Safeguarding Adults Manager
and Michelle Grant is a
Safeguarding Adults Manager,
all at Safeguarding Adults
Team, NHS Southern
Derbyshire Clinical
Commissioning Group,
Derby, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –First, the authors summarise arrangements expectedfrom general practice (GP) surgeries, to optimize
their safeguarding adults role. Second, using case-based discussions, the authors present specific safeguarding
pathways (through which the authors have produced a downloadable interactive app) that the authors have
developed to help Derbyshire GPs respond appropriately to safeguarding adults concerns. Third, the authors
present the Derbyshire clinical commissioning Groups ’(CCG)approach to seeking assurance from their GPs that
they have effective safeguarding adults arrangements in place. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors have based the paper on relevant current UK legislation
and national guidance, the local approach to seeking assurance from GP surgeries; the authors adjusted the
pathways on the basis of feedback received from eight out of 103 (7.76 per cent response rate) Derbyshire
GP safeguarding leads who responded to an e-mail containing draft pathways.
Findings –Primary care staff are ideally placed to identify safeguarding adults issues and to act to protect
those who are at risk of abuse or neglect.
Originality/value –The authors are unaware of any other paper that does all of the following: summarises
policies GP surgeries should implement regarding safeguarding adults; details core competencies required of GPs
regarding safeguarding adults; presents how CCGs can seek assurance from GP surgeries regarding safeguarding
adults; and presents straightforward pathways for specific safeguarding adults scenarios. In one paper, now
published in the British Journal of General Practice, the authors presented a generic safeguarding adults pathway.
Keywords Older people,Safeguarding, Learning/intellectual disabilities,General practice, Legal, Assurance
Paper type General review
Introduction
Since somany safeguardingadults issues can presentin primary care and,through their full access
to health carerecords and longstanding relation with patients, the primary care team can have an
overarching view of the adult which other agencies do not, it is essential that each general practice
(GP) surgery has effective arrangements in place to safeguard adults who are at risk of abuse or
neglect. InDerbyshire, now that clinical commissioning groups (CCG) co-commission GPservices
with NHS England, the fourCCGs proactively support local GP surgeries to fulfil their safeguarding
adults responsibilities. This support includes providing training and advice, the development of
pathways and interactive apps, and seeking assurance that GP’s safeguarding policies and
procedures are robust, aligning with national standards and UK legislation. We acknowledge that
safeguarding arrangements varyfrom region to region,but in this paper we presentwhat is currently
being done locally in Derbyshire as an example of good practice from which others can learn.
One of the difficulties in writing this paper is that historically there has been limited GP input into
safeguarding adults arrangements. For example, the first named GP for safeguarding adults in
England was only employed by a CCG in October 2015 and a MEDLINE electronic literature search
using “safeguarding adults”,“general practice”and “primary care”, as keywords, currently yields no
Received 7 April 2016
Revised 13 June 2016
14 July 2016
Accepted 22 July 2016
PAGE288
j
THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
j
VOL. 18 NO. 5 2016, pp. 288-298, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203 DOI 10.1108/JAP-04-2016-0006
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