We are committed to preventing the abuse of vulnerable adults and to working in partnership with agencies across Lewisham in responding promptly when abuse is suspected.
Who are vulnerable adults?
People who need extra help are often described as vulnerable adults. A vulnerable adult is any person aged over 18 who:
- may be old and frail
- may have learning or physical disabilities or difficulties
- may have mental health problems
- cannot always take care of themselves or protect themselves without help.
What is adult abuse?
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 their quality of life to causing actual physical suffering.
Abuse of vulnerable adults can happen anywhere - at home, 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.
Lewisham Council and our partners have signed up to an agreement to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. You can download the Lewisham interagency adult protection procedure from this page.
Mental Capacity Act
Under the Mental Capacity Act there is a new criminal offence of ill treatment or neglect of a person who lacks capacity – that is a person who is unable to make decisions on their own behalf.
An Independent Mental Capacity Advocate can be appointed to represent a person who has been assessed as unable to make a decision and who has no one to speak on his or her behalf.
Under the Act, there are safeguards for assessing the decision making capacity of disabled people, for involving them in decisions wherever possible, and for appointing representatives. Full details of the act and what it might mean for different people are available on the government website.
How to access the service
If immediate action is needed the Emergency Services should be contacted by dialling 999.
Details of how to contact the right team for non urgent matters are in the procedure document which you can download from this page.