We are pleased to advise that deep linking capability, enabling users to directly download individual mobile toolkits, has now been released on the RDS mobile app. When you install the update, you will see that each toolkit has a small QR code icon the header area beside the search icon – see screenshot below. Clicking on this icon will open up a window with a full-size QR code and the alternative of a short URL for sharing with users. Instructions are provided.
You may need to actively install the update to install RDS app version 4.7.1 to see this improvement. Installing this update is also strongly recommended to get the full benefits of the new contingency arrangements – specifically, that if the RDS website should fail, you will still be able to download new mobile app toolkits.
To check your current RDS version, click on the three dots bottom right of the RDS app screen. This takes you to a “More” page where you will see the version number. To install latest updates:
On iPhones – go to the Apple store, click on your profile icon top right, scroll down to see the apps waiting to be updated and update the RDS app.
On Android phones – these can vary, but try going to the Google Play store, click on your profile icon top right, click on “Manage apps and device”, select and update the RDS app.
Please get in touch with ann.wales3@nhs.scot with any questions.
Section 3(1) of the Adult Support and Protection Act (2007) defines an ‘adult at risk’ as someone who:
Note that the presence of one or two criteria does not automatically mean an adult is an adult at risk – all three of these elements must be met.
It should also be noted and strongly emphasised that the three-point criteria makes no reference to capacity. For the purposes of the Act, capacity should be considered on a contextual basis around a specific decision, and not restricted to an overall clinical judgement.
*All adults who have capacity have the right to make their own choices about their lives and these choices should be respected if they are made freely. However, for many people the effects of trauma and adverse childhood experiences can introduce levels of complexity into the circumstances within which adults are taking decisions, and which decisions they find themselves taking. In this context it is reasonable to envisage situations in which these experiences and the cumulative impact of them through life may very well have rendered some people effectively unable to safeguard themselves to the extent that some will repeatedly take decisions that place them at risk.
Note that the presence of a particular condition does not automatically mean an adult is an adult at risk of harm. Someone could have a disability but be able to safeguard their well-being, property, rights and other interests.
See Definitions: Harm and Serious Harm
The person may have learning or physical disabilities or mental health issues. Or they may be at risk of harm because of their age, frailty or illness. A person's vulnerability and risk of being abused also depends upon their circumstances.
The first point of the three-point criteria set out in section 3(1) of the Act relates to whether the adult is unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests. Most people will be able to safeguard themselves through the ability to take clear and well thought through decisions about matters to do with their health and safety, and as such could not be regarded as adults at risk of harm within the terms of the Act. However, this will not be the case for all people, and when a person is deemed unable to safeguard themselves they will meet the first point of the three-point criteria.
‘Unable’ is not further defined in the Act, but is defined in the Collins English Dictionary as “lacking the necessary power, ability, or authority (to do something); not able”.
‘Unwilling’ is defined in the Collins English Dictionary as “unfavourably inclined; reluctant”, and may thus describe someone who is aware of the potential consequences but still makes a deliberate choice.
A distinction may therefore be drawn between an adult who lacks these skills and is therefore unable to safeguard themselves, and one who is deemed to have the power, ability or authority to safeguard themselves, but who is apparently unwilling to do so.
It is also important to bear in mind that an inability to safeguard oneself is not the same as an adult lacking mental capacity. In all circumstances, one should consider that even where a person can make a decision, are they able to action that decision to safeguard themselves?
Adult support and protection