Protection of Vulnerable Adults
All organisations in Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster are committed to preventing the abuse of adults and responding promptly when abuse is suspected.
These pages tell you what to do and who to contact if you or someone you know is a person who is vulnerable and is being abused.
Who is a vulnerable adult?
A vulnerable adult is a person aged 18 years or over who may be unable to take care of themselves, or protect themselves from harm or from being exploited. This may be because they have a mental health problem, a disability, a sensory impairment, are old and frail, or have some form of illness.
What is adult abuse?
Abuse is mistreatment by any other person or persons that violates a person’s human and civil rights. The abuse can vary from treating someone with disrespect in a way which significantly affects the person’s quality of life, to causing actual physical suffering.
Abuse can happen anywhere – in a residential or nursing home, a hospital, in the workplace, at a day centre or educational establishment, in supported housing or in the street.
Forms of abuse include:
- Physical Abuse such as hitting, pushing, pinching, shaking, misusing medication, scalding, restraint, hair pulling.
- Sexual Abuse such as rape, sexual assault, or sexual acts to which the vulnerable adult has not or could not have consented, or to which they were pressurised into consenting.
- Psychological or Emotional Abuse such as threats of harm or abandonment, being deprived of social or any other form of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, being prevented from receiving services or support.
- Financial or Material Abuse such as theft, fraud or exploitation, pressure in connection with wills, property, or inheritance, misuse of property, possessions or benefits.
- Neglect such as ignoring medical or physical care needs and preventing access to health, social care or educational services or withholding the necessities of life such as food, drink and heating.
- Discriminatory Abuse such as that based on race or sexuality or a person’s disability and other forms of harassment or slurs.
- Institutional abuse can sometimes happen in residential homes, nursing homes or hospitals when people are mistreated because of poor or inadequate care, neglect and poor practice that affects the whole of that service.
Any of these forms of abuse can be either deliberate or be the result of ignorance, or lack of training, knowledge or understanding. Often if a person is being abused in one way they are also being abused in other ways.
Who might be causing the abuse?
The person who is responsible for the abuse is very often well known to the person abused and could be:
- A paid carer or volunteer
- A health worker, social care or other worker
- A relative, friend or neighbour
- Another resident or service user
- An occasional visitor or someone who is providing a service
- People who deliberately exploit vulnerable people
What do you do if you are being abused or you suspect that someone you know may be the victim of abuse?
You should contact one of the numbers at the foot of this page as soon as possible Your concerns will be taken seriously and will receive prompt attention.
What if the abuse is also a crime?
If the abuse is also a crime such as assault, racial harassment, rape or theft you should involve the police to prevent someone else from being abused. If the police are involved we will work with them and with you to support you.
If you are worried about contacting the police you can always contact social services to talk things over first.
If immediate action is needed the emergency services should be contacted by dialling 999.
What will happen if abuse is reported?
- If abuse is reported to social services or a community mental health team, a member of staff will come and talk to the person as quickly as possible.
- If there is immediate danger we will aim to visit you or the person about whom you are concerned straight away
- If there is a significant risk of harm we will aim to visit within 24 hours
- For other reports of abuse we will normally visit within 5 working days
- The person dealing with the report will work with the person who is being abused to help them make any decisions. They will provide help and support in taking action to try to end the abuse and enable them to ensure it does not happen again.
- You may want someone to contact us on your behalf and to nominate someone to speak and act for you.
- We will not normally do anything or share information with other people without the permission of the person who is being abused. The only exception to this is in situations where others may be at risk of abuse or the person is not able to make decisions for themselves because of mental disability.
Contact numbers
If you or the person you are concerned about lives in Westminster call:
Social Services
For older and disabled people:
- North 020 7641 1175
- South 020 7641 3897
- St Mary’s Hospital 020 7886 1027
- Chelsea and Westminster 020 8746 8681
- HIV/Aids, St Mary’s Hospital 020 7886 1027
- Physical Disabilities 020 7641 1175
- Learning Disabilities 020 7641 7411
- Emergency Duty Team 020 7641 6000
- Substance Misuse 020 7641 7470
- Joint Homelessness Team 020 7534 6704
Community Mental Health Teams
- Central 020 7534 6685
- South 020 8237 2040
- North 020 7266 6000/020 7328 3453
Adult Protection lead
For general information on Adult Protection issues, please contact Helen Banham, Service Manager and Adult Protection lead:
Tel: 020 7641 4196
mobile 077641 44407
e-mail hbanham@westminster.gov.uk
Police
If your concern is about someone who is in a residential or nursing home:
- National Care Standards Commission 020 8735 6370
Health agencies
- Westminster Primary Care Trust 020 7725 3333
- Central and North West London
- Mental Health Trust 020 8746 8954
- St Mary’s 020 7886 6666
- Chelsea and Westminster 020 8746 8000
- St Charles 020 8969 2488
- The Royal Brompton and Harefield 020 7352 8121
- The Royal Marsden 020 7352 8171
- Action on Elder Abuse – RESPONSE LINE 080 8808 814 available Mon-Fri 10.00am - 4.30pm
- RESPOND Help Line 0808 808 0700 for people with learning disabilities
In an emergency call 999
Adult protection policy and procedures
For general information on adult abuse - how to recognise it and who to contact, please see our leaflet below:
Protecting Adults from Abuse or Mistreatment
Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea have produced a policy which details in full the policies and procedures for the protection of vulnerable adults in each of the boroughs. The policy is available to download in summary and full versions by selecting the appropriate link from the list below:
