The National Centre for Cross Disciplinary Social Work (NCCDSW) has recently undertaken a research project funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing.
Community nurses are likely to be in daily contact with adults made vulnerable by their circumstances, and are therefore ideally located to identify and support the victims of financial abuse. Every healthcare practitioner, whatever their role, has responsibility for safeguarding the people in their care, and this learning tool provides staff with key knowledge to meet their safeguarding responsibilities.
Although financial abuse from scamming has been a long-term social issue it is only recently that the true range, reach and impact of personal fraud on health and wellbeing has been recognised. Advances in technology have increased the opportunities for scammers to reach beyond national boundaries, but ‘old tech’ fraud (relying on face-to-face encounters, mail or telephone contact) remains prevalent, often targeting the lonely, socially isolated and people in vulnerable circumstances.
The launch event was attended by Dame Christine Beasley and Shirley Baines from the Burdett Trust, and Professor John Vinney, Vice Chancellor of Bournemouth University. An invited audience was given the opportunity to interact with the learning tool and digital stories, as well as some of the other learning resources developed by staff within the NCCDSW
The event included an address from Bournemouth University’s Professor Keith Brown, and a discussion on the development of the learning tool and future scam awareness initiatives using gamification given by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge and Dr Sally Lee. The tool itself has been written by Dr Sally Lee and designed by the NCCDSW design team of Caroline Jones and Emily Rosenorn-Lanng. The digital stories are drawn from the experiences of individuals involved with scams who took part in the research project. Chris Petrou, second year film student at BU, filmed and directed the stories which use the voice and performance talents of volunteer actors.
This tool will be circulated to all NHS Trusts in the country and represents an important learning aid for all community health care practitioners supporting adults at risk from financial abuse from scams.
