Making Safeguarding Personal
Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) is an approach to safeguarding that is person-led and outcomes-focussed.
It is about having conversations with adults about how responses to safeguarding situations can be made in a way that enhances their involvement, choice and control as well as improving their quality of life, well-being and safety.
It is about seeing adults as experts in their own lives, and working alongside them to identify the outcomes they want.
It focuses on achieving meaningful improvements to adult's lives to prevent abuse and neglect occurring in the future, including ways for them to protect themselves and build resilience.
It recognises that individuals come with a variety of different preferences, histories, circumstances and life-styles; so safeguarding arrangements should not prescribe a process that must be followed whenever a concern is raised, but instead take a more personalised approach.
Making Safeguarding Personal is firmly embedded in the statutory guidance for the Care Act 2014 and is an approach that should flow through every aspect of adult safeguarding, not just formal enquiries.
Some of the ways we make safeguarding personal:
- asking the adult how they would like to be involved in the process
- being open and honest about the concerns raised, the safeguarding process and possible options
- creating a non-judgemental environment where the person feels safe
- asking the person what solutions they would like to try, or what they think would or wouldn't work
- finding out what is going well in the person's life and the strengths and positive relationships they have
- finding out if the person would like anyone in particular to be involved in the process
- asking the person what they want to happen from the safeguarding process
- not being afraid to talk about what has or could go wrong
- finding out about any other worries, concerns or issues the have in their life
- keeping the person updated and informed and seek their views and feelings throughout the process
- providing good information and advice to support decision making
Where these principles are applied effectively, a person would be able to agree with the following statements:
People worked together to reduce the risk to my safety and wellbeing:
- I had the information I needed, in the way that I needed it
- professionals helped me to plan ahead and manage the risks that were important to me
- people and services understood me - recognised and respected what I could do and what I needed help with
- the people I wanted were involved
- I had good quality care - I felt safe and in control
- when things started to go wrong, people around me noticed and acted early
People worked together and helped when I was harmed:
- people noticed and acted
- people asked what I wanted to happen and worked together with me to get it
- the people I wanted were involved
- I got the help I needed by those in the best placed to give it
- the help I received made my situation better
- people will learn from my experience and use it to help others
- I understood the reasons when decisions were made that I didn't agree with