NHS staff hold a statutory duty to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. This means that practitioners who work primarily with adults should consider the needs of any children in that person’s life, and those who work with children should also consider the needs of parents, carers, and other adults around them. We do this because families are an interconnected system that share risk, responsibility, resilience, and the impact of illness, challenges and hardship.

Safeguarding at Mersey Care is grounded in a Think Family approach, where we look beyond the individual to understand who else may be affected, who may be providing care, and where additional support may be needed to keep everyone safe and well.