Safeguarding the public, image versus reality…

Imagine that a close relative of yours has been assaulted by someone employed as a carer, they were vulnerable and unable to defend themselves. Now imagine what you think should happen next.

Firstly, the decision needs to be made about whether this incident should and could be reported to the relevant authorities. Taking a decision about making a complaint to the PSNI and the HSC comes with no small sense of pressure. Does the victim have the wherewithal to report such an incident? What if they are unable to communicate effectively due to disability, dementia or other incapacity? Say for example that they decide to report this incident. Now not only will the reporting have to be done, they and their family and friends (if they have any of either) also have the fallout of the injury to deal with. Stress upon stress.

Now like anyone with no prior experience of this kind of thing, they would expect that the complaint would trigger a sufficiently thorough response from the appropriate authorities. The complainant would surely be treated with respect, dignity, care and support.

The reality is that this happened to me. I was physically assaulted by a carer and after careful consideration I decided that I had to make a complaint in the interests of public safety. My reasonable expectations soon clashed with the stark, cold reality of what really happens when you speak truth to power. I know I am not alone in my experience; many have gone before me and doubtless many more will follow.

The whole process of making a complaint and therefore trying to protect the public from this violent person was overwhelming, confusing and stressful. I’d like someone to explain to me what “safeguarding” means in reality, not in theory where the term is bandied about like it’s at the core of every aspect of social care. Maybe it is seen on paper as the cornerstone of good governance. Dear reader, I have discovered to the cost of my physical, mental, and emotional health that safeguarding means absolutely zero to those in authority. Unless it refers to a safeguarding of their career, their huge salary and the safety of their pension. You’re pitting yourself against the leviathan that is the HSC, you imagine that the truth will mean something. You’ve been hurt by someone employed to care for you. Surely this will alert someone to act to protect other vulnerable people in the community from future harm.

What I didn’t anticipate was that the PSNI and the HSC would chew me up and spit me out, having taken what was left of my dignity, put me under suspicion and highlight the fact that when a disabled person who receives social care speaks up, their “word” means nothing. I was treated with derision, suspicion, incompetence and doubt. I have been humiliated at the hands of those who should have been protecting me. All of this in addition to the daily challenge of trying to live some kind of meaningful existence.

The whole process from beginning to end took little over 3 months. I think an independent advocate should be appointed to support the patient/client as the complaints procedure is so heavily stacked against them. I had to get a solicitor as I felt like I was the one being investigated. I knew that I never really stood a chance of getting a successful outcome, but I was shocked at the PSNI and PPS treating me like a liar.

This experience is of course not really new, too many in our society have been abused by those whose job it was to care for them, in fact I’ve already written about it for Slugger here.

It’s a sad indictment of our society that the vulnerable are treated as an underclass by the very people employed to protect them. I don’t know how the self-declared gatekeepers of the public sleep at night.

It would be laughable, if only I could stop crying.