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the SP-
BULLYING IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE -
Did you know that in the UK physical abuse and neglect are the two most common forms of abuse suffered by vulnerable adults aged 18 and over?
According to a report published by the Health & Social Care Information Centre 39%
of this abuse is suffered from social workers and carers in the persons own home
and 36% suffered within care homes. The source of abuse from care workers in this
report is a staggering 31%. The number of recognised vulnerable adults in need of
care is increasing year on year and sadly the percentages of those being ill-
During 2014 evidence of abuse in care homes was revealed by a whistle blower on Panorama.
The care home featured on the programme had been deemed 'excellent' by the CQC yet
on watching this program I (like many others) regarded the treatment of these vulnerable
adults as dispicable acts of mental and physical bullying. Whilst I appreciate that
managing a care home must be a tremendously demanding role, I struggle to understand
why top management does not do more to ensure that during the pre-
Disciplinary & grievance cases linked to bullying, harassment, or abuse are long
winded, time consuming and often expensive once the endless round of meetings have
been completed, meticulous documentation has been reviewed and re-
Care homes are often run with small budgets and revenues often rely on longstanding (and sometimes outdated) NHS contracts, so I guess it is no surprise that management find it easier 'turn a blind eye' than tackle abuse in their businesses.
Many years ago, whilst recruiting for a care agency, a frustrated recruiting manager said to me "if only there were a way to see past the interview personality and into a person's real behaviours day to day". For years it has been impossible to predict which of your employees will be cause for concern until it was too late. Care homes have tried to build positive cultures by changing their recruitment & selection policies and by changing their training content, but often the damage is already done by the time care managers and care home owners are made aware of an abusive employee.
Social media and online social networking has changed this situation dramatically
in recent years. [Related article: How to identify a bully before you recruit one]
It is now possible to go some way towards 'predicting' which of your new recruits
have bullying tendencies -
Airports use Online Social Profiling for identifying violent or terrorist tendencies,
and financial institutions to protect their clients from leakage of information.
Within a vulnerable adult environment it shocks me to think that the care industry
is not doing everything in its powers to protect its stakeholders and their brand
and revenues -
The old interview question "What would your friend say about you" is a powerful one if answered truthfully. It looks past the CV and the 'interview hat' and begins to offer insight into a person's day to day relationships and behaviours. [Related article: Online Social Profiling reveals nuggets of truth behind a CV]
The care industry needs carers that are brimming with empathy and patience -
Recruitment and Selection
The Care Industry (like many others) currently relies on the traditional selection
process consisting of application, interview, maybe a work trial and then pre-
Without visibility of a person's behaviours and the way they conduct themselves,
how can a care manager choose the person that will be patient, recognise special
needs, and care in the truest form of the word -
Is there a Solution?
In July 2012 the SP Index opened it’s doors to the Health & Social Care industry.
The SP Index is the first Online Social Profiling company in the UK and delivers
a pre-
The purpose is to flag potential risks to the business and its stakeholders from an individual’s style. In every report there is a section focused towards behavioural risk and this includes publically available online evidence of bullying, harassment, racism, sexism, violence, as well as explicit language, nudity, endorsement of drug use, alcoholism, weapon use and more.
An individual constructs their online identity themselves, they post photos, videos, status, tweets, blogs, and other content on the web for people to read. Our 2 years of research conclusively shows that these online interactions deliver a clear pattern of an individual’s behaviour and in 90% of cases online cognitive style transfers into real life critical behaviours. In other words, if you are a bully on the web, 9 times out of 10 you will be a bully in a real life environment.
A simple pre-
The vast majority of care homes do a pretty fantastic job in looking after their
service users, but those care homes which do not pre-