To consider the Annual Safeguarding Report 2014 – 2015, attached marked:  6

Members received a report, copy attached to the signed minutes, which explained the development of the Keeping Adults Safe in Shropshire Board and revised statutory obligations under the Care Act.

The Chair welcomed Andy Begley - Director of Adult Services, Sarah Hollinshead-Bland - Designated Adult Safeguarding Manager, and Ivan Williams - Independent Chair of the Board, to the meeting.

The Adult Safeguarding Manager gave a presentation (copy attached to signed minutes) during which she covered: how the name of the Board had come about; the structure of the Board and development of the strategic plan; past and current levels of adult safeguarding; how performance would be monitored; how making safeguarding personal was different; and the wider context for adult safeguarding.

In response to questions from the Committee, officers explained:

·       There were now 10 categories of abuse, including self neglect and financial abuse.

·       The reason for the large increase in referrals (816 in the first half of 2015/2016, opposed to 417 total in 2014/2015) was because the implementation of the Care Act had raised awareness in reporting.  Referrals were being made even when an incident had been dealt with and a person made safe. 

·       Officers felt that this demand could be managed once the safeguarding team was fully staffed, and through a different way of working.  This included the First Point of Contact having a significant part in screening safeguarding concerns and gathering information.  The Care Act had also led to a change in dealing with the referrals where a situation had been addressed and there was no ongoing risk. 

·       Costs of the Board were to be shared amongst key partners. 

·       Performance indicators were under development and would be reported to at the end of the year to the Safeguarding Board.  These would also be made available to the Scrutiny Committee.  The Board would also be producing a public annual report.

·       The statute set out that the local authority was responsible for decisions on whether to take cases further, and such decision were made by senior social workers.  The role of the Safeguarding Board was to provide the strategic lead on safeguarding.  

·       There was a well-publicised number for the reporting of abuse but work on publicity for how to raise a concern was to be reviewed - there would always be work to do to increase awareness and a stand-alone website was to be developed. 

The Safeguarding Manager explained that Making Safeguarding Personal and implementing personalisation meant giving people as much control as possible over their lives.  Contact would be made with an individual affected when a safeguarding concern was raised, to see if they wished the concern to be taken any further or raised on their behalf.  If they did not wish it to be progressed, a decision would then be made as to whether there was a public or vital need to prevent a crime before proceeding. 

Members asked how this would work in practice for someone who, for example, had severe learning difficulties, and was not able to make a decision.  They noted that in such instances, officers would work with the individual’s representative or if they did not have one, an advocate would be recruited.  Safeguarding training was to be rolled out to advocates and voluntary sector organisations. 

The Committee went on to ask questions about how a number of scenarios would be dealt with including abuse by family members. The Safeguarding Manager acknowledged that this would be a difficult situation to address and individuals did worry about getting members of their family into trouble.   It was important to ensure that any response was proportionate.  If the risk was very high, it might be necessary to take action, even if the individual did not want this to happen. She reiterated that it was always best to register a concern especially if it appeared that a situation was ongoing.

Members commented that feedback to people who had reported concerns in the past had been inconsistent.  The Adult Safeguarding Manager said that feedback would be provided and the Care First system would enable reporting on whether concerns would be investigated further, and if not, the reason why.  Feedback to people who had raised concerns would be monitored.

Ivan Powell, the Independent Chair of the Board, introduced himself and outlined his experience, including a long career within West Mercia Police Force.  He commented that there was some way to go to raise adult safeguarding to the same level of awareness of that of children.    He explained the responsibilities of the Board in relation to publishing a strategic plan, an annual report and commissioning adult safeguarding reviews.  The Strategy would be delivered through a three year plan and subgroups worked on progress which was monitored by an executive group.  

He was pleased to report that the Board was genuinely multi-agency with full engagement and a good culture of professional challenge amongst the Local Authority, CCG and West Mercia Police.  An induction pack for Board Members was near completion and it was agreed to send a copy of this to Scrutiny Committee members.  Work was underway with West Mercia Police regarding a refresh of their policies and procedures. 

He also referred to the challenges of the cultural shift represented by the ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ agenda and referred to emerging links between domestic abuse and dementia.  

A Member commented that sometimes dementia patients had to be held to stop them from hurting themselves, which might result in bruising.  The Chair of the Board reiterated that a proper and appropriate response would be made in all scenarios and the police would be open and thorough in such situations and would consider if a person was prone to bruising for a particular health related reason.

The Safeguarding Manager added that indicators of abuse were often present but this did not mean that abuse had taken place.  Facts would be established, and advice might be available to help with situations leading to bruising. 

Members discussed how the community might be educated to raise the profile of adult abuse.  The Board Chairman said Members had a leadership role to play in that.  It was likely that an adult review would happen at some stage and already existing channels of communication would be exploited.  The Director of Adult Social Care reiterated that although there was a specific Safeguarding Team and now a Keeping Adults Safe in Shropshire Board, safeguarding was everybody’s business.

Members were pleased that there was now a genuine multi-agency approach to adult safeguarding and with progress to date in implementing the requirements of the Care Act and the Strategic Action Plan.  It was agreed that the Committee should receive the Annual Report of the Board in September 2016 and that in addition to this, a mid-year update be presented to members outside of the a meeting. 

The Committee thanked the Director, Safeguarding Manager and Board Chairman for attending the meeting.