Safeguarding Issues

Introduction
My learning need is how to safeguard people with a learning disability from sexual abuse. I have chosen this topic because at my last placement it was an issue staff did not like discussing and, as a nursing student, I want to enhance my knowledge of this particular area. This essay will critically analyse how to safeguard people with a learning disability from sexual abuse and will evaluate the research papers on safeguarding issues using the step-by-step guide to critiquing research as described by (Ryan et al., 2007). This will assist me to critically reflect and analyse what I have learnt about the issues surrounding the safeguarding of people with a learning disability from sexual abuse and how this knowledge has been enhanced

(2010) suggest the use and monitoring of data collected on sexual abuse. They identified that sexual abuse accounted for over a quarter of all the data collected from two local authorities. The study recommends the monitoring of such data for the prevention and risk management of sexual abuse. However, Cambridge et al. (2010) did not offer solutions such as sex and relationship education for people with a learning disability on how to keep safe, although studies such as Franklin et al. (2015) make recommendations of sex and relationship education for people with a learning disability.
Acton (2015) discussed in his article the challenges between the protection of people with learning disabilities from sexual abuse and their autonomy to express their sexuality without any harm. Acton (2015) discussed the ethical dilemma experienced by professionals when considering how to balance the risk between the mental capacity of the service users and the choices that people with a learning disability make without infringing on their fundamental human

This presents an ethical dilemma for people working with people a learning disability. The ethical dilemma is always a challenge to those working with people with a learning disability because the latter group of individuals have the right to make choices according to their fundamental human rights. This line of thought is supported by (The Human Rights Act, 1998).
Kangasniemi et al. (2013) suggest that the safety of patients is important and therefore, professionals and all stakeholders should encourage a practice that does not compromise the humanity and dignity of the service user. Nurses have a duty of care to support patients and to help them to make choices that offer the least amount of risk and make them aware of the implication of their choices and the risks involved (NMC, 2015). However, that is if they have the mental capacity to understand all of this. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) states that it is assumed that everyone has capacity unless it is proven otherwise. Acton (2015) also identified the need for professionals to fully understand and implement the Mental Capacity Act (2005). He highlighted the risk of sexual abuse such as transmission of infectious diseases, unwanted pregnancies and the risk of over-protection which may affect the fundamental human rights of the service user, as stated in article 8 of Human Rights Act (1998), which states that every individual is entitled to the