This page is designed to answer the following questions:
- 4.1 Explain how to support others to raise concerns (Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care, Understand Safeguarding and Protection in Health and Social Care Settings)
NOTE: This page has been quality assured for 2023 as per our Quality Assurance policy.
For this assessment criterion, you will be required to explain how you would support others to raise safeguarding concerns. ‘Others‘ could refer to an individual, their family/carer, advocates, colleagues and other professionals.
You should be familiar with the processes relating to reporting concerns and be completely transparent and honest about how they will be handled as well as reassure individuals that they will be taken seriously.
Having a robust policy and procedure for reporting concerns and making complaints is a legal requirement for health and care organisations and issues can be escalated if the individual is unhappy with the response. This could be to more senior management within the organisation or external agencies, such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Whistleblowing policies prevent employees from being treated unfairly for raising a genuine concern.
It is only by acknowledging feedback from others and responding to it positively that services can improve, so organisations should encourage others to express their views as part of their internal quality control processes. If organisations operate in this way, people will feel more comfortable about providing feedback.