Public Protection

Public Protection Health Service

The protection and safety of children and adults is an integral part of NHS services with health professionals having a rich legacy of standing up for and being an advocate for others. Throughout history, we have had a prestigious list of nursing advocates like Florence Nightingale who advocated for standards of care and sanitation, Mary Mahoney an advocate for racial integration in nursing and Margaret Sanger who advocated for women’s birth control. Being an advocate for the individuals in our care is our bread and butter and in NHS Ayrshire and Arran it aligns with our core values of being safe, caring and respectful.

Most children and adults live their lives free from harm and abuse. Even those who may be more susceptible to harm due to health conditions such as learning disability, mental health problems, physical or mental impairment manage their lives without experiencing harm. However, for some these vulnerabilities make them susceptible to exploitation, abuse and harm. For staff working in healthcare making decisions about individuals at risk of harm can be difficult with their situations often being complex and challenging.

Here in NHS Ayrshire & Arran the Public Protection Health Team has responsibility for three distinct areas of practice. Child and adult protection along with Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC). Once practicing independently of each other the last year has seen the teams join under strong strategic clinical leadership and follow other Scottish health boards in a public protection health service model. This model will influence future service provision for vulnerable children, young people, unborn babies and adults and provide staff across the organisation with expert professional advice and support, assisting them in their duty to protect and safeguard individuals in their care.

The Teams

Child Protection

Children and young people have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse and neglect. Child abuse and neglect have significant effects on children’s emotional and physical health, social development, education and future employment.   

NHS Ayrshire & Arrans approach to child protection is based upon the protection of children's rights. The Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) policy and practice model is a practical expression of the Scottish Government's commitment to implementation of the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This requires a continuum of preventative and protective work.

The child protection team are at the very heart of the decision making by attending initial discussion meetings with key agencies such as Police Scotland and social work when a child or their siblings require protection. This can also include decisions about an unborn baby.

A mixed group of professionals including midwifes, health visitors and paediatric nurses the NHS Ayrshire & Arran child protection team offer professional expert advice and support to all staff within Ayrshire & Arran and provide a robust training programme, keeping children at risk of harm front and centre of their work.

Adult Support & Protection (ASP)

As adults we have the ‘right’ to choose the way we live our life even if those choices appear risky to others and those rights are firmly embedded in law. However we recognise that many of the adults we care for may be unable to make decisions about their safety for a plethora of different reasons ranging from cognition to adverse childhood traumas. These complex situations can cause challenges for nurses and other health care professionals.

The Adult Support & Protection health team has recently launched an advice line which, open within the working week, allows staff from anywhere in the organisation to seek professional advice regarding adult protection situations. The team work alongside other safeguarding agencies like Police Scotland and Social services to provide health input for adults at risk of harm allowing for a collaborative response to adult safeguarding.

As a new team we have developed a training schedule for staff across the organisation which compliments the existing online NES modules. We offer bespoke sessions for teams with dentists, GP’s, student nurses and school nurses having already benefited from training.  

The vision of the ASP team is to continue to strengthen our visibility within the organisation, working collaboratively with our partners to meet the needs of the adults in need of support & protection and ensure staff feel confident and competent in recognising and reporting harm.

Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)

Sadly, the prevalence of domestic abuse means many people suffer from the actions of their partner and ex-partner. MARAC is a framework to safeguard individuals who are deemed to be at the highest risk of serious harm from domestic abuse.

MARAC in Ayrshire is relatively new, becoming operational on 1^st August 2022. The establishment of MARAC was fully supported by the local authorities, Police Scotland and the NHS who became the hosts of the coordination team. Information sharing and collaboration are a key element of MARAC with statutory and non-statutory agencies sharing information and jointly developing risk led, person centred action plans to safeguard individuals and their children as well as managing the behaviour of the perpetrator. MARAC meetings often identify issues which require links to other public protection processes like child and adult protection. 

The MARAC coordination team in Ayrshire raise awareness through a programme of ongoing training as well as ensuring representation on national and local strategic forums such as the Ayrshire Violence against Women. Together, in partnership, we aim to tackle domestic abuse and safeguard and support vulnerable adults and children.

            “Protection of adults & children is everyone’s business”