Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults

Vulnerable adults are those who are restricted in capacity to guard themselves against harm or exploitation. All persons have the right to be safe and to live a life free from abuse and/or neglect, regardless of their circumstances of gender, age etc.  The term ‘safeguarding’ in the context of these standards means putting measures in place in services to reduce the risk of harm, to promote people’s human rights, health and wellbeing, and empowering people to protect themselves.

Elder abuse defined

Elder Abuse is defined as a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person or violates their human and civil rights. (Protecting our Future, Report of the Working Group on Elder Abuse, September 2002). Sixty five years of age is taken as the point beyond which abuse may be considered to be elder abuse.

Source – Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection 

The HSE Health Act Regulations

Health Act Regulations, 2013. This policy applies to older persons or persons with a disability that, as a result of physical or intellectual impairment, may be at risk of abuse. The person may be in receipt of a care service in his or her own home, in the community or be resident in a residential care home, nursing home or other setting. Equally, the person may not be in receipt of a care service.

Some of the principles underpinning the policy include:

• Respect for human rights
• A person centred approached to care and services
• Promotion of advocacy
• Respect for confidentially
• Empowerment of individuals
• A collaborative approach

Source – HSE 

Types of abuse

• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Psychological abuse
• Financial abuse
• Institutional abuse
• Neglect
• Discriminatory abuse

 

World Elder Abuse Day

On the 15th of this month (June 2019) it was World Elder Abuse Day. This day was first introduced back in 2006 and it was to bring attention to the issue of elder abuse in our global society and as a public health and humans rights concern.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day provides an opportunity for all of us to focus our attention on elder abuse. It challenges each one of us to redouble efforts to promote respect and dignity for all older people and to help eradicate abuse of older people. Everybody has a role to play and the challenges posed by elder abuse cannot be met solely by any one individual, organisation, or state body, it is all our responsibilities.

 

Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults Course

We at MyElearnSafety want to be part of the solution to this type of abuse so we are created a Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults Course . This course will enable service users to understand fully what safeguarding a vulnerable adult entails: What is  a vulnerable adult? What constitutes abuse? How to respond to signs of abuse; How to respond to concerns of an elderly person who may have suffered abused.

Our ‘Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults’ course is approved by the Irish Association of Healthcare Assistants (IAHA).

New Partnership Announcement with IAHA

We are very happy to announce a new partnership with with Irish Association of Healthcare Assistances (IAHA).

IAHA

The Irish Association of Healthcare Assistants is the professional body for Healthcare Assistants (HCAs.)

Their aim is to elevate the professional standard and performance of HCAs through a formal recognised qualification (QQI Level 5), continued professional development and advocacy. They believe this is achieved through fostering high standards of professional conduct, training and competence. The IAHA  strives to ensure that HCAs are included as valued members of the nursing team.

They appreciate that Healthcare assistants and clinical support workers have started to undertake advanced roles; Venepuncture, Urinalysis, Oxygen Therapy, Safe Administration of Medication, Wound dressings, Vital Sign & Blood Glucose Checks – list is endless. The IAHA support their professional development through governance guidelines and having the necessary structures, processes, standards and oversight in place to ensure that safe, person centred and effective services are delivered.

My Elearn Safety are proud to be partnered with a company who strive to elevate this standard of Healthcare and we look forward to working closely with them for the foreseeable future.

Joining the Dots – Child Friendly Healthcare in Hospitals

Joining the Dots Survey Results

The Children’s Hospital Group Board and the Ombudsman for Children’s Office are pleased to launch the results of the survey Joining the Dots: Connecting voices for child-friendly healthcare in hospital.

Joining the Dots has been an exciting opportunity to hear, for the first time, from children and young people receiving care and treatment in the three hospitals about what they feel is working well and where there is room for improvement.

Joining the Dots is a joint initiative by the Children’s Hospital Group Board and the Ombudsman for Children’s Office with the three children’s hospitals – Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Temple Street Children’s University Hospital and the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght University Hospital – to hear the views of children, young people, parents/guardians and hospital staff on the delivery of services to children and young people in hospital.

This joint initiative sought participants’ views on a range of issues that relate to children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and different rights that children have in healthcare settings, including hospitals.

Survey

The results of the surveys completed by children, young people, parents/guardians and hospital staff will help the children’s hospitals to identify what changes could give children and young people a better experience of being in hospital. The survey results will also support ongoing work to plan and design paediatric services for the new children’s hospital and two paediatric outpatients and urgent care centres at Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals.

The Joining the Dots survey took place in the Emergency Departments, Inpatient Departments and Outpatient Departments of the three children’s hospitals between July and August 2017.  In total, the participants were;

• 2,530 children (aged 6-11 years)
• Young people (aged 12-17 years)
• Parents/guardians
• Hospital staff and management

The surveys were distributed by staff in each of the three children’s hospitals and by Children in Hospital Ireland volunteers.

Results

Welcoming the publication of the results, the Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon said: “Joining the Dots is an innovative initiative because it is the first time in Ireland that children and young people have been asked for their views as service users on a wide range of issues relating to their rights in hospital settings.”

Dr Muldoon continued;

“The results of the Joining the Dots survey provide a welcome indicator of the quality of acute paediatric healthcare services in Dublin: we now have a much clearer picture of what is working well and where there is room for improvement. Joining the Dots is a child-centred quality assurance tool and I warmly welcome that the Children’s Hospital Group is working with the HSE to examine the feasibility of implementing this initiative in acute paediatric services outside Dublin.”

Commenting on the results of this first survey of acute healthcare services for children Eilísh Hardiman, Chief Executive, Children’s Hospital Group said;

“We wish to thank all who made this survey possible, with a very special thank you to those who provided their invaluable insights into our health services. This feedback will become the backbone on which we will shape our design for acute paediatric services delivery.”

The CEOs, Directors of Nursing and clinical staff from the three children’s hospitals also welcomed the results of this initiative and said;

“We would like to acknowledge how important these results are to all our staff and services. We will work hard to identify and implement the vital improvements that are in our capability to achieve. Thank you to everyone who made this feedback possible.”

Issues being sought

The wide range of issues we sought participants’ views on were grouped under 8 sections:

• Getting good quality care
• Being treated equally and fairly
• Rest, play, leisure and learning
• Information and participation
• Safety and environment
• Protection
• Pain management
• Final comments

The results of the questionnaires highlight a range of good practices as well as signposting areas for potential improvement.

Over 3,000 comments were made by children, young people and parents/guardians. 65% of the comments were positive and 35% of the comments suggested areas where improvements could be made.

Eight out of ten of the positive comments   were about the care delivered by hospital staff to children and young people.

Among the issues raised in comments about room for improvement were: waiting times for treatments and procedures (26%), building infrastructure (16%), parking (14%) and food (9%).

The Children’s Hospital Group is working with the HSE to explore the feasibility of rolling out this initiative in acute paediatric healthcare services across Ireland.  It has also established a Quality and Patient Safety Group which will take responsibility for the development of a quality improvement action plan based on the areas for improvement identified by the survey results.