Safeguarding means protecting people's health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. It's fundamental to high-quality health and social care.

What safeguarding means for people who use care services

Safeguarding children and promoting their welfare includes:

• Protecting them from maltreatment or things that are bad for their health or development.
• Making sure they grow up in circumstances that allow safe and effective care.

Safeguarding adults includes:

• Protecting their rights to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect.
• People and organisations working together to prevent the risk of abuse or neglect, and to stop them from happening.
• Making sure people's wellbeing is promoted, taking their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs into account.

We help to safeguard people by:

• Using information we receive (particularly when concerns are raised about abuse, harm or neglect) to look at the risks to people who use care services.
• Referring concerns to local councils and/or the police for further investigation.
• Carrying out inspections, where we talk to people who use services to help us identify safeguarding concerns.
• Publishing our findings on safeguarding in our inspection reports.
• Taking action if we find that care services don't have suitable arrangements to keep people safe.
• Working with partners such as the police, local councils, health agencies, other regulators and government departments.
• Taking part in multi-agency children's safeguarding inspections to get a picture of children's and young people's experiences and how well they are being safeguarded.