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Abuse is mistreatment by any other person or persons that violates a person's human and civil rights.
The abuse can vary from treating someone with disrespect in a way which significantly affects the person's quality of life, to causing actual physical suffering.
Abuse can happen anywhere - in a residential or nursing home, a hospital, in the workplace, at a day centre or educational establishment, in supported housing or in the street.
If you or someone you know are being abused, please report it to the Safeguarding Adults Team as soon as possible. Your concerns will be taken seriously.
Safeguarding adults concern form
Adult safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults from Abuse factsheet
Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2020 - 2021
Call 01234 276222 during these times:
For after hours emergencies contact 0300 300 8123
You can also email adult.protection@bedford.gov.uk.
Call the police on 999 in an emergency.
Any of these forms of abuse can be either deliberate or be the result of ignorance, or lack of training, knowledge or understanding.
Often if a person is being abused in one way they are also being abused in other ways:
The person who is responsible for the abuse is very often well known to the person abused and could be:
If the abuse is also a crime such as assault, racial harassment, rape or theft you should involve the police to prevent someone else from being abused. If the police are involved we will work with them and with you to support you.
If you are worried about contacting the police you can always contact us to talk things over first.
The person dealing with the report will work with the person who is being abused to help them make any decisions. They will provide help and support in taking action to try to end the abuse and enable them to ensure it does not happen again.
You may want someone to contact us on your behalf and to nominate someone to speak and act for you.
We will not normally do anything or share information with other people without the permission of the person who is being abused. The only exception to this is in situations where others may be at risk of abuse or the person is not able to make decisions for themselves because of mental disability.