It is our understanding that the community services prioritisation plan, the COVID Act and the variety of new COVID guidance are all indicating that safeguarding children and adults is as critical during COVID as it is statutory at other times.
• How are 205,000 children on a protection plan or looked after going to be supervised and checked – these childrens’ lives are unlikely to improve during COVID with their parent’s coping strategies stretched to the limit?
• How can we protect pregnant women and children from increased domestic abuse, as it does during seasonal festivals and holiday periods?
• How are we going to listen to and support young carers, many of whom have their own wellbeing issues in the best of times, and who are now isolated with a loved one with complex needs who need nourishment, medication, equipment?
• How will named nurses complete initial and review health assessments for children in care?
• How will the system support more children in care when lone parents are taken to hospital or die?
• How will paediatricians undertake child death reviews within 12 hours and ensure COVID reporting in this regards is prioritised?
• How are we going to limit malnutrition in children who depend on their daily school meal as their only regular nutrition?
• How are we going to spot and tackled the Increased exploitation of adults, ie scams and miracle COVID cures?
• How are we going to support acute hospital colleagues to understand the person-centred communication tactics required with the increased deprivation of liberty and mental capacity assessment support?
• How are we going to facilitate unpalatable conversations about parity of esteem and who gets ventilation and who is able to sign advanced decisions to refuse treatments?
• How can we support acute COVID-care colleagues with our safeguarding listening ears, mini-mentoring and compassionate collaboration?
• How are local safeguarding partnerships and integrated care systems going to offer and provide mutual aid to protect contextual safeguarding and trauma informed practice as a frontline service?
There are a number of COVID frontlines which need protected.
Thousands of patients will need acute COVID-care and ventilation; millions of citizens will require COVID care and compassion in homes, in care homes and in their communities.
COVID frontline will need more than donning hazmat suit and goggles ……… it will need the cloak of safeguarding for many months, even after the COVID crisis is over.