Identify and apply relevant safeguarding legislation, policies, and guidelines to action safeguarding concerns within health and social care contexts

ASSESSMENT BRIEF

Module Name: Safeguarding in Practice Academic Year: 2023-24

Assessment Period: Trimester 1

Please read this assessment brief in its entirety before starting work on the assessment task.

The Assessment Task:

This is a practical application task of attending a simulated MDT meeting. The scenario below will be addressed. Ensure that where required, you directly address the issues outlined in the case. The tasks are listed at the end of the scenario.

Scenario:

Peter is 68. He has been a heavy drinker most of his life and was recently diagnosed with Korsakoff’s syndrome. He has a close group of friends that come around to his rented flat and drink. His brother died from cirrhosis of the liver. Peter has one nephew, Jon, who visits occasionally, but lives three hours away and has a young family. It was Jon who asked the GP to visit, which then led to Peter’s diagnosis. The GP considered that Peter should move to a care home. He said the flat was filthy and that Peter’s ‘so-called’ friends are encouraging him to drink himself to death. Peter refuses to leave his home.

A community psychiatric nurse, Jackie, has been allocated to work with Peter. Initially, Peter

refused to let her in as he was worried that she would: ‘put me away, like what happened to my Dad’. Gradually, Jackie befriended Peter. It seems that Peter, as well as funding the drinking with his friends, has also been lending them money. He can’t remember how much he has spent but says it doesn’t matter as they are friends. Peter is underweight and there is not much food in the flat, but Peter says he prefers a ‘liquid lunch’. His flat is cold

and he tells Jackie that he cannot afford to have the heating on. When Jackie asks him how much money he has, Peter shrugs and says he doesn’t know.

End of Scenario.

Group Practical Task:

Each team will consist of a maximum of 3 members. All team members should read the case study. It is up to you whether or not to prepare PowerPoint slides

Each member of the group, in turn, must speak for up to 7 consecutive minutes. All students will be stopped at 7 minutes by the assessor, if you exceed the time. Each member should be prepared for questions and discussion at the end of the initial presentation.

You are a team of social care professionals contributing to the MDT, that has been asked to make enquiries and support Peter. From your investigation, you note that the key safeguarding interventions to choose from are:

• Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP)
• Advocacy (AVC)
• Family Group Conferences (FGC)
• Positive Risk Taking (PRT)

Each team member should identify a different safeguarding intervention (selected from the four interventions listed above) that are empowering and review how these interventions would work with this person. As a team, you should consider how the chosen interventions can be used well together, in order to promote a positive experience and outcome for the person at risk.

For each of your selected safeguarding interventions:

1. Describe the safeguarding intervention.
2. Justify your reasons for using the safeguarding intervention drawing on relevant legislation, policies, and guidelines.
3. Apply the safeguarding intervention to the scenario, drawing on relevant legislation, policies, and guidelines to discuss how you would use the care intervention with this person at risk.

Guidance on Completing the Task:

Ensure you consider the requirement of the Care Act 2014 for safeguarding interventions to be user- led – it is an example of using best practice. Apart from describing the intervention, justifying the reasons, and applying to the scenario, try to outline the problems that may be encountered by professionals when they work in this way, including any valid criticisms of these interventions.

For example: According to a safeguarding report by Preston in 2012, using an advocate is essential if the client lacks capacity, however, there is a shortage of trained advocates, locating independent advocates who have the time available to work in a meaningful way with people, over an extended period, is difficult in many local authorities. Beresford’s research in 2016 on advocacy in London shows only 1 in 7 adults at risk of abuse, who requested an advocate, were provided with an advocate within 6 months of the request being made

Hints and Tips on Individual/Group Presenting at the MDT:

- Practise your presentation individually and as a group, so you are comfortable with delivery to avoid reading from a script.

- Be clear and audible/project voice to ensure your sound is clear and your audience can hear you.

- Ensure team-working is evident during your presentation and be supportive of each other.

- Ensure you listen to the contributions of others within your team, so that you are able to contribute to the MDT discussion questions.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

C. Identify and apply relevant safeguarding legislation, policies, and guidelines to action safeguarding concerns within health and social care contexts (Individual mark 50%)

E. Perform co-operatively and function effectively in groups to actively meet specified objectives and develop strategies to improve teamworking skills (Individual mark 50%)

Academic Integrity and Misconduct

Unless this is a group assessment, the work you produce must be your own, with work taken from any other source properly referenced and attributed. For the avoidance of doubt this means that it is an infringement of academic integrity and, therefore, academic misconduct to ask someone else to carry out all or some of the work for you, whether paid or unpaid, or to use the work of another student whether current or previously submitted. Identify and apply relevant safeguarding legislation, policies, and guidelines to action safeguarding concerns within health and social care contexts

For further guidance on what constitutes plagiarism, contract cheating or collusion, or any other infringement of academic integrity, please read the University’s Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy. You will also find useful resources on the VLE: Referencing and Academic Integrity page.

N.B. The penalties for academic misconduct are severe and can include failing the assessment, failing the module and expulsion from the university.

Extensions

No extensions are available for this assessment.

For full details please refer to the Extensions Policy. Extensions are only available for first sits – they are not available for resits.

Mitigating Circumstances

For guidance on mitigating circumstances please go to Mitigating Circumstances where you will find detailed guidance on the policy as well as guidance and the form for making an application.

Please note, however, that an application to defer an assessment on the grounds of mitigating circumstances should normally be made in advance of the submission deadline or examination date.

Marking Rubric

This is what you will be marked against. You need to check it regularly against your work to ensure you are on the right track.