Minister Butler opens public consultation on adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector and urges public to have its say
- New consultation to create first national policy on adult safeguarding for health and social care services
- Existing adult safeguarding policy framework to be strengthened
- New policy will apply to all public, private and voluntary healthcare and social care services
- Broad ranging proposals aim to keep adults in health and social care services safe from abuse
The Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler TD has today opened a public consultation on new proposals to further safeguard adults receiving services in the health and social care sector.
Safeguarding means putting specific measures in place to protect those who may be at risk of abuse.
The new policy proposals outlined in the consultation aim to further prevent abuse, respond to suspected abuse and intervene as necessary in the health and social care sector, and to support adults’ decision-making rights. Reforms to strengthen the relevant existing legal framework are also proposed.
The new policy will:
- Apply to all public, private and voluntary healthcare and social care services.
- Strengthen the existing adult safeguarding policy framework for health and social care services.
- Aim to uphold the rights of at-risk service users to make their own decisions, to foster a strong culture of safeguarding throughout all services, and to support effective intervention when necessary to protect at-risk service users against abuse.
Launching the consultation, Minister Butler, said:
“Adult safeguarding is about fostering a strong safeguarding culture in every service and putting the right policy and legislation in place to reduce the risk of harm to adults who may be at risk of abuse.
“We want to ensure that every adult using health and social care services in Ireland is protected against abuse and harm.
“Feedback from the public will help to shape the first national policy on adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector. I look forward to hearing the views of the people who use our services on how our system should fulfil its safeguarding responsibilities, together with the views of their families and friends, service providers, staff, stakeholder organisations and the public. I encourage everyone interested to take part in the consultation”.
An online consultation portal is now open, allowing people to submit their views on the policy proposals.
The public consultation will close at 5.00pm on Wednesday, 13 March 2024.For more information on the online consultation (including information about Easy to Read and other response formats), go to: www.gov.ie/AdultSafeguardingConsultation