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Despite widespread development in safeguarding vulnerable adults across legislation, policy, research, education and practice in recent years, some aspects of this work remain relatively ill‐defined. Neglect in formal care settings and the nursing contribution to multi‐agency safeguarding work are two such aspects. This paper offers perspectives acknowledging the current context of safeguarding. It identifies defining attributes of neglect and highlights why older people are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of neglect. The nursing contribution to multi‐agency safeguarding work, specifically health‐focused investigations, is discussed in detail, including when nurses should be involved, the knowledge and skills required and considerations for giving a professional opinion. The paper offers a model of registered nurse involvement in health safeguarding investigations and concludes with suggestions on how investigations can be approached.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from face-to-face interviews undertaken with 16 care and nursing home managers employed in homes situated in two English local authorities. The research sought to explore managers’ perceptions of the role of contract monitoring in the prevention of abuse.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 16 care and nursing home managers.

Though personnel employed by the local authority who conducted contract monitoring were generally thought of positively by care home managers on a personal level, their effectiveness was perceived to be limited as a result of their lack of experience and knowledge of providing care, and the methods that they were required to use.

Though the research draws upon the experiences of only 16 care and nursing home managers in two local authorities, data suggest that current contract monitoring activity is of limited utility in determining the true nature of care and the presence of abuse.

Unusually, the paper explores care and nursing home managers’ perceptions of contract monitoring processes in terms of how they perceive their effectiveness in preventing abuse.

The purpose of this paper is to report and analyse a recent case, in which the safeguarding procedure adopted by one local authority was criticised by the High Court. It also seeks to identify the key lessons to be learned.

The paper considers the judgment handed down in the case, sets out its key points and seeks to place the proceedings, and the concerns they reveal, in their context.

In its conduct of one safeguarding enquiry, West Sussex County Council acted unlawfully, in a manner that breached natural justice and a legitimate expectation to which it had itself given rise. The case raises a number of concerns. It is also consistent with a suspicion that some practitioners, and even some judges, have begun to express: that on occasions, the safeguarding process itself might constitute a form of abuse.

This is believed to be the first time the case has been analysed in such detail, and also the first time it has been placed in the context of those concerns.

This article examines the existing legal framework for safeguarding in the context of the Putting People First (Ministers et al, 2007) agenda, in order to consider the risks of abuse in a new era of arms' length care management, and the employment of non‐regulated workers. It examines how these risks may be adequately and proactively managed through attention to the requirements of the current legal framework, as long as it is understood that the current legal framework should be pervaded, by now, by the principles and fall‐back remedies offered by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (HM Government, 2005a).

The paper seeks to report on an audit undertaken in 2010 to support implementation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) processes by National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. The ISA was set up under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (SVGA) 2006. Concern has been expressed that some NHS employers are not familiar with their new obligations to consider making referrals to the ISA.

This audit was designed to provide an estimate of possible NHS referrals to the enhanced vetting and barring scheme run by the ISA in England and Wales; and to explore two NHS Trusts' potential decision‐making and referrals to the ISA following disciplinary action or adverse events. The two NHS Trusts that participated engaged in a detailed review of incidents and their relationship to harm as defined in the SVGA 2006.

The simple number of how many incidents have been reported to the ISA by an NHS Trust will not equate to the same number of cases of individual patients being harmed or the number of events that have placed them at risk of harm. There are considerable differences in how reporting an incident is viewed, managed and dealt with among NHS Trusts. Following this audit, the best estimate of the number of potential NHS referrals from England, Wales and Northern Ireland to the ISA over one year is estimated to be about 712.

This is a small audit of self‐selecting Trusts. The information is not examined in detail and the reasons for Trust decisions about disciplinary outcomes are not accessed or scrutinised; the indicative figures of numbers of referrals to the NHS are a simple indication of the levels of referrals that might be expected.

The audit results suggest a need for further work on what is most helpful in making the differential decisions about the type of harm that has occurred from an incident. NHS Trusts may need to assure themselves that their duties under the SVGA are fully understood and implemented.

The strength of the audit, and, therefore, this paper, is that a sample of Trusts have supplied a level of detail about their staff and Human Resource matters that is not generally available, as access to the DATIX system is not generally sought or permissions given.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of the assumption of altruism argued by the author to be a tendency among both the lay public, professionals and politicians, a generalised assumption that contributes to the long standing and obstinate presence of abuse of adults who are at risk throughout England, particularly older people living in care and nursing homes.

By examining available figures that depict the continuing abuse of vulnerable adults, and by drawing on research, the author offers a partial explanation for the longevity of abuse in English society.

The paper demonstrates how the concept of the assumption of altruism can explain to a degree the apparent enduring levels of abuse of adults who are at risk.

The paper offers the opportunity for the reader to consider some of the fundamental, higher order reasons for the persistent levels of abuse in England, abuse that endures despite the oversight by government of care provided to adults who maybe at risk by virtue of the activities of the statutory regulator and health and social care commissioners.

By presenting the incontrovertible evidence of enduring abuse, the paper introduces the concept of the assumption of altruism as a partial explanation for its continuing occurrence despite decades of policy and practice guidance designed to overcome it.

The purpose of this paper was to undertake a review of selected adult safeguarding policy and guidance documentation to establish the level of guidance provided in relation to financial abuse; identify similarities and differences between the guidance given to professionals working in different contexts; and report gaps or inconsistencies in the guidance given.

Qualitative documentary content analysis was undertaken to identify key issues and themes in documents selected from 25 local authorities in England.

Little variation was found in the content of the documents, which were all heavily influenced by “No Secrets” guidance. The victim and perpetrator were largely invisible and there is no reference to the possible medium to long‐term impact of abuse on individuals. There is no research evidence underpinning the use of the notion of “significant harm” when used in the context of adults. In addition, there is no means of comparing safeguarding decisions across different local authorities to evaluate consistency of decisions and outcomes.

The lack of any mechanisms to compare safeguarding decisions and outcomes across local authority areas is a serious limitation of the way safeguarding works. Also, the failure to address the aftercare and support of victims means they are left to manage the psycho‐social consequences.

Safeguarding boards should evaluate the outcomes of interventions in a standardised way to enable comparison. They should also do more to ensure the longer‐term wellbeing of victims.

The paper raises awareness of elder financial abuse.

This is the only policy review that focuses specifically on financial abuse.

This paper reviews the process and progress of safeguarding adults in Cornwall since the murder of Steven Hoskin and the Serious Case Review that was carried out (Flynn, 2007). Interviews were carried out with frontline staff to assess how the processes have been delivered and whether this has had a beneficial impact. Multi‐agency working has improved information sharing, but there is still work to be done to deliver consistent and effective responses from everyone involved in safeguarding adults.

This paper categorises different types of health‐focused safeguarding investigations and offers suggestions, particularly relevant to nurse investigators, on how an investigation can be approached. Suggestions are also offered on how to conduct an investigation, where to find information, how to conduct interviews, writing a report and giving a professional opinion. Criteria for determining whether neglect has taken place in a formal care setting are offered, alongside examples of how these have been applied in practice. The paper concludes with consideration of actions that can be taken following an investigation and some reflections on the experience of professions involved in safeguarding.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a research project designed to determine the qualifications held by those staff who had perpetrated abuse in private sector care and nursing homes for older people during a 12-month period.

A self-completion, postal questionnaire was issued to the safeguarding teams of all local authorities in England with adult social care responsibilities to determine the qualifications held by staff who were proven to have perpetrated abuse in these facilities.

Though findings with respect to qualified nurses who had perpetrated abuse when considered in isolation were inconclusive in numerical terms, the proportion of all nursing and care staff who had perpetrated abuse, and who held either a professional or vocational qualification was high.

Responses to the postal questionnaire represented 21.8 per cent of local authorities with social services responsibilities, yet the data secured suggests that care providing staff who have received recognised training are disproportionately represented among those proven to have perpetrated abuse.

Findings indicate that recognised training for those who provide care in care and nursing homes is of limited efficacy in the prevention of abuse.