Suspected abuse or neglect of an ‘at risk’ or Vulnerable Adult

All adults have the right to be treated with dignity, have their choices respected and live a life free from fear.

Disability, illness or frailty means that many adults over the age of 18 have to rely on other people to help them in their day-to-day living. Sadly, this means that they, or even the person who’s caring for them, such as a relative, friend or neighbour, can become vulnerable and at risk.

What is abuse?

If you, or a vulnerable adult you know, is being treated badly, taken advantage of, or injured, this is abuse and it can take many forms:

  • Physical, for example, hitting, slapping, kicking, punching, pushing or physically restraining, or the mismanagement of medication.
  • Emotional or psychological, for example, shouting, swearing, teasing or ignoring to make a person afraid.
  • Sexual, for example, unwanted touching, kissing or sexual intercourse.
  • Financial, for example, money or belongings taken under pressure or stolen with, or without, informed consent.
  • Neglect, for example, not being properly cared for, mismanaging medication or being denied privacy, choice or social contact.
  • Discriminatory, for example, suffering abuse or neglect on the grounds of religion, culture, gender, sexuality or disability, which can take the form of any of the above.
  • Institutional, for example, in a hospital, residential home or day care centre, or the way a home care agency provides its service.

What to do if you suspect abuse

  • Report it immediately
  • Don’t confront the alleged abuser
  • If a serious or sexual assault, don’t touch or clean anything, including the victim, as this could destroy or contaminate evidence that may be required for any future criminal proceedings.

What happens next?

  • You’ll be asked to give details about the situation
  • If the person is in physical danger, action will be taken to help make them safe
  • Trained staff will carry out a careful and sensitive enquiry about how best to deal with the situation.

How can we help?

Abuse can take place anywhere. Unfortunately, those being abused are often the least likely to bring the situation to anyone's attention.

If you’re experiencing, see, or know of, a worrying situation, please don’t ignore it. Get in touch with us and tell us about it. This may mean that we’ll act directly on your information and/or contact other services to put an end to an abusive or neglectful situation. Although we’re the main agency for safeguarding vulnerable adults, we work in close partnership with the police, NHS and voluntary agencies.

We’ll also provide information and offer practical advice to the person experiencing abuse, so that they can make an informed choice about any help they might need, or any action they may wish to take.If they’re unable to make an informed choice, care will be taken to support and protect them.

You can call Adult Social Care about abuse on 020 8891 7971 from 9am to 5.15pm or email safeguarding.adults@richmond.gov.uk. For emergencies outside of office hours you can call our Adults Emergency Duty Team on 0208 744 2442. You can also call the Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.

Useful contacts

BSL

British sign language (BSL)

We have BSL videos with sound on safeguarding adults from abuse and types of abuse.