Supervison

Mrs M is a vulnerable service user we care for on a private basis she is a retired GP, she suffers from Dementia, is very hard of hearing and lives alone. Recently one of our carers rang with concerns that Mrs M may be the victim of financial abuse. Mrs M had told the carer that she had met a young man whilst out walking and that they had become friends. Mrs M also mentioned that this man was calling round regularly, accepting meals and money from her. I rang Mrs M and asked her if it was ok for me to call round and chat with her, she said that it was. On arrival I ensured that we were able to chat in a comfortable, warm room which was private and well lit. Whilst we were chatting I picked up the log book and read through the Care Plan and the Risk Assessment and routinely looked to make sure that it was up to date. I noticed in the Care Plan that it mentioned Mrs M’s mental capacity and whether she would have the capacity to report or even identify any form of abuse. I also drew Mrs M’s attention to the out of hours telephone number and explained that she could telephone anytime, night or day should she feel the need to. I left the telephone number accessible where she could find it easily. I sat across from Mrs M because of her hearing difficulties and positioned myself so she could clearly see my face. I spoke to her clearly in a tone she was able to understand easily and paraphrased what I said. During the course of the conversation I asked Mrs M if she would like to talk to me about her new friend. Mrs M was happy to tell me about him. I was concerned about some of the things she told me and told Mrs M that I had a duty of Care to ensure that Mrs M was protected from all forms of abuse, emotional, financial, sexual, physical and ........ and that it should be reported. I asked Mrs M if she minded if spoke to her family and professionals saying that I thought it would be a good idea so that they were made fully aware. Mrs M was not happy about this at all, she asked me not to say a word to anyone. I chatted some more to Mrs M and then again asked her if I could report my concerns. I managed to diffuse the conflict by saying that I would only report to anyone who needed to know. Mrs M was happy about this and suggested to her that we inform her Social Worker. Before I left Mrs M, I made sure that she was comfortable about what we had discussed. When I got back to the office I spoke to my manager to report the concerns. I then documented the details factually, legibly and accurately in Mrs M’s file. I signed and dated the document and then locked the file away in line with Data Protection legislation. I rang Mrs M’s Social worker and explained my concerns. I told her that I had visited and documented my findings. The Social Worker said that she would also go and visit Mrs M. In the meantime she asked me if we would continue to monitor Mrs M and report any further concerns. Following my visit to Mrs M and the phone call to the Social Worker I arranged a meeting with my colleagues and made them fully aware of the situation.