Safeguarding patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Safeguarding children and adults with care and support needs from abuse and neglect is a priority for all community pharmacy teams.

Colleagues play an essential role in identifying and escalating safeguarding issues, whether this be raising concerns or directing patients to appropriate sources of help and support. 

Safeguarding has remained a priority throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are concerns that some people may have become more vulnerable to abuse and neglect as a direct result of the changes caused by the pandemic situation.

The Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group has developed this paper to highlight important safeguarding considerations which pharmacy teams should be aware of and provides advice for dealing with safeguarding concerns.

This paper is based on learnings from the ongoing pandemic situation; many of these learnings may also be relevant and applicable to future crisis situations.