To coincide with Adult Safeguarding Day on Friday last (8 November), over 200 delegates attended a conference in Kilkenny entitled “Hey You – Listen, Hear”: Learning from South East Safeguarding this year’, organised by the HSE Safeguarding and Protection Team, Amber Women’s Refuge and the School of Applied Social Studies in University College Cork.
The conference was addressed by a range of national and international experts drawn from academic, practice, community and lived experience. Adult Safeguarding Day is an initiative of Safeguarding Ireland and is supported by the HSE.
Opening the conference, Prof. Eleanor Bantry White (Applied Social Studies, University College Cork) said:
“Without awareness raising there can be no recognition of abuse. That really is the first step. Our conference today marks National Safeguarding Day here in Ireland and as part of this, we are very proud in the South East to be the ones raising awareness about the area of adult safeguarding and contributing to embedding a safeguarding culture that promotes openness, has a zero tolerance approach to any form of abuse and gives voice to those who may be suffering abuse”
Jean Murphy (Assistant Manager, Amber Women’s Refuge said:
“Amber is delighted to be the community partner for this year’s Southeast Safeguarding conference. Over the last year, we have seen an increase in the number of women over 60 years of age seeking support, especially in our emergency refuge service. The conference presents an important opportunity to spotlight these womens’ experiences and communicate how best to support victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse from this age profile.”
In the morning session, Jackie Mcllroy (External Adult Safeguarding Reviewer) gave an overview of her recent report for the HSE and recommendations regarding the future for safeguarding in health and social care in Ireland. Anita Duffy from Our Lady’s Hospice and Adjunct Assistant Professor in UCD School of Nursing then presented her PhD research, with a focus on mapping the evidence of elder abuse in residential care settings for older adults. Bridget Penhale from the University of East Anglia gave an international perspective on older women, domestic violent and elder abuse, summarising some of the research that has been completed in Europe and the U.K.
Sergeant Finbarr O’ Sullivan from the Waterford Garda Divisional Protective Services Unit and Sinead Boyle and Ann Folan from Waterford Sexual Assault Treatment Unit both provided presentations on the work that both of their services are engaged in and the supports available from each in the South East. Following this, Jean Murphy (Assistant Manager) and Anita Daly (Domestic Abuse Outreach and Court Support Worker) from Amber Women’s Refuge brought home the voice of the service user to the conference with their presentation entitled ‘It’s Never Too Later’ – focusing on the experience of a brave and honest older adult survivor of domestic violence.
Stephanie Lynch (HSE Head of Quality, Safety and Service Improvement in the South-East) closed the morning session with a summary of the key themes presented by the speakers.
The afternoon session focused on four separate break-out room workshops to provide practical skills labs for the participants on the day. Workshop #1 was delivered by Gemma Flood (Social Work Team Leader and Assisted Decision Making Lead with the HSE Safeguarding and Protection Team in the South-East). The focus of this workshop was the practicality of putting assisted decision making into practice.
Workshop #2 was delivered by Martha McGinn from the National Institute of Intellectual Disability Studies, with the theme of relationships, sexuality and safeguarding practices
Workshop #3 was delivered by Siobhán Maher (Social Work Team Leader) and Ann Mulholland (Clinical Nurse Manager 2) with the HSE Safeguarding and Protection Team in the South-East. This workshop focused on dealing with disclosures of abuse and provided practical advice and support to respond in these situations.
The final workshop was provided by Aileen Keane and Paul Dunbar from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), with a focus on safeguarding in residential care from the HIQA perspective.
Rob O’Connor (Principal Social Worker on the HSE Safeguarding and Protection Team in the South East) said he was delighted with the success of the conference this year and remarked:
“Events like today and talking about the rights and welfare of adults at risk of harm are so important. The abuse of adults is unfortunately an issue that is on the rise in Ireland and across the world. The HSE National Safeguarding Office figures for 2023 tell us that almost 18,000 safeguarding concerns were reported to HSE Safeguarding & Protection Teams nationally and this was an increase of almost 20% from the year before. However, a positive that we can take from this increase in numbers is that it also shows that more adult abuse is being recognised and reported on an annual basis to the services that can help those that need it.”
Last updated on: 11 / 11 / 2024
