Project team: Caroline White and Dave Marsland
Abuse and neglect have been widely reported within care homes, and the need for approaches which prevent the onset of abuse has been widely called for. Our Abuse in Care studies worked to identify early indicators of abuse which can assist practitioners in recognising services in which residents are at high risk of abuse or neglect. We developed guidance to enable practitioners who visit care homes to identify and record concerns and to take action to help prevent the onset of abuse, both in care homes for people with learning disabilities and for older people.
More recently we have carried out research which focuses on the experiences of GPs when working in care homes for older people, exploring both the challenges of working in these environments and their experiences of safeguarding in these settings.
Our current work is an evaluation of the a pilot project which provides forensic examinations by a trained clinician where there is a suspicion that an adult may have been injured non-accidentally (by physical abuse or neglect). This includes an exploration of how this additional information contributes to adult safeguarding decisions and practice.
Outputs
Marsland, D., Oakes, P. and White, C. (2012) Early Indicators of Concern in Residential Support Services for People with Learning Disabilities - report | guide
Marsland, D., Oakes, P. and White, C. (2012) Early Indicators of Concern in Residential Support Services for Older People - report | guide
Marsland, D., Oakes, P. and White, C. (2007), "Abuse in care? The identification of early indicators of the abuse of people with learning disabilities in residential settings", The Journal of Adult Protection
Marsland, D., Oakes, P. and White, C. (2015) Abuse in care? A research project to identify early indicators of concern in residential and nursing homes for older people. Journal of Adult Protection DOI 10.1108/JAP-08-2014-0027
White, C., and Alton, E. (2022). The interface between primary care and care homes: General Practitioner experiences of working in care homes for older people. Health and Social Care in the Community. 30(5), e2896-e2904.
White, C. and Marsland, D. (2023) Establishing the Evidence Base for a Pilot Project Developing a Forensic Service in Safeguarding Adults. Forensic-Pilot-Evaluation-final-evaluation-report-for-NHSE-March-31st-2023.pdf (mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk)
White, C. and Alton, E. (2024) ‘It’s that gut feeling isn’t it’: GP experiences of safeguarding in care homes for older people. The Journal of Adult Protection