Adult social services directors have presented the Government with a seven-point plan to help protect vulnerable adults from abuse. This follows several reports published in the past 12 months which paint a worrying picture of levels of abuse towards elderly and or disabled people. In June, a report commissioned by the Department of Health revealed around 342,000 older people had been subjected to neglect, financial abuse, psychological and physical and sexual abuse during the past year (The MJ, 21 June 2007). ‘A plethora of research over the last number of years has highlighted the need for local authorities and partner agencies to strengthen their roles and functions in adult protection,' said Anne Williams, president of ADASS. ‘We believe new legislation can play a vital part in this. The statutory changes we seek will become even more necessary as we continue to empower individuals to organise and purchase their own care.' Seven-point plan: powers to enter domestic properties – when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an adult is being abused a duty to share information between statutory agencies and regulators a duty to co-operate – all public agencies with responsibilities for the wellbeing and care of adults should have a statutory duty to co-operate fully with adult social services departments during the process of an adult abuse investigation a clarification of the duties and powers of other local authority departments and health agencies across geographical and organisational boundaries a duty to act or investigate complaints duties laid on regulatory bodies to work in partnership with local authorities in identifying and responding to instances of potential abuse and neglect, including institutional abuse and neglect.
