Record a safeguarding concern, the referral and every update, and what carers should do first.
For managers and carers
If you are a carer
- If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.
- Tell your manager or the person in charge straight away, by phone or in person. Do not wait to write it up.
- Write down what you saw and heard, in the person's own words where you can. Use an incident report with the type Disclosure if someone told you something, or Incident if you saw it. See Report an incident.
- Follow your service's safeguarding policy.
Record a safeguarding concern (managers and team leaders)
- In the sidebar, open Care Quality and choose Safeguarding.
- Press Raise Concern.
- Choose the client if it involves one, and the Concern type, for example Neglect or Financial / Material Abuse.
- Enter the Date of concern, the Description and the Immediate action taken.
- If you have referred it, fill in Referred to (for example the local authority safeguarding team), the Referral date and the Referral reference.
- Under CQC notified (Regulation 18), choose Yes, No or Not decided yet. If Yes, add the date.
- Set the Status and press Raise concern.
- Each time something happens, open the record and press Add Update. Write a note and update the status.
Good to know
- Raising a safeguarding record in Care App does not alert anyone. Always tell people directly as well.
- When the status is Referred, you must say who it was referred to and when.
- Carers cannot open the Safeguarding area. That is why carers report to a manager and use an incident report.
- Safeguarding records are kept even if a client's other records are later erased.
- A signed-off record is locked. Use Unlock to edit and give a reason to change it.
Still stuck? Email hello@care-app.uk and tell us which screen you were on. We aim to reply within a few hours.