Agenda item

Derek Benson, Independent Chair of Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board

Bridget Brickley, Board Manager

Paula Furnival, Strategic Director for People

Adrian Hardman, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

The Independent Chairman of Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board (WSAB) introduced the Board’s annual report which covered the period up to the end of March 2020 and was included in the Agenda. He briefly highlighted the main themes in safeguarding.

Clearly the world was now a very different place due to Covid, and the Board had sought to rationalise its priorities in order to deal with the increased pressure and had scheduled additional meetings to maintain oversight of safeguarding. A high number of Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) had been completed, as well as a review around homelessness. The WSAB continued to work with the Children’s Safeguarding Partnership around cross-cutting areas for example domestic abuse.

Questions were invited and the following main points arose:

·       There was no right answer for the number of SARS to be expected and the WSAB Chair explained that referrals were assessed by the case review group, which in his view had been correct each time. While some areas around the country had not completed any this year, the process was event-led. The Board Manager added that different areas may interpret the procedure differently. Currently, Worcestershire applied the full SAR process, however the Board was reviewing approaches and considering whether some repeated issues may be better tackled by reviewing progress rather than by a review.

·       Areas which had been in the spotlight known as the ‘wicked issues’ included care homes, rough sleepers, exploitation and the challenge of identifying the lead professional to deal with those issues which sit just beneath the threshold before they reached a level requiring statutory intervention - the Board Manager explained that safeguarding budget reserves may be used to consider this latter area as well as work on handling of complex cases and how organisations could work better together.

·       The Board representatives were asked about the envisaged long-term impact of Covid and advised that this was a huge question with more reflection needed, but what was evident was the significant and sustained pressure across so many sectors. There would be an impact on the younger generation, and a change in people’s living habits and communication. Partnerships had moved to another level with greater willingness, and the potential to tackle long-term issues such as rough sleeping and admission into care homes from hospital. Analysis of referrals had revealed an initial drop at the start of the pandemic with numbers then increasing, for example about financial scams. Analysis suggested that while referrals were not necessarily Covid-related, general awareness had been heightened.

·       The Strategic Director for People added that research indicated the pandemic was exacerbating inequalities present in society which may lead to increased demand in future. 

·       A Panel member asked whether gender played a role in perceptions and reporting of safeguarding concerns, however the Board Manager explained that previous analysis pointed to the fact that higher numbers of cases meeting the criteria for women than for men was due to the fact that women tended to live longer.

·       The low figure (14%) of concerns dealt with under safeguarding was acknowledged, however looking at the quality of referrals, a high proportion were inappropriate. The Board was looking at which organisations may need targeting or may be underrepresented. A new framework which had just been issued may also require changes.  A lot of referrals came under the Section 42 threshold, perhaps because people did not know where else to go to, therefore more signposting may be required.

·       The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care felt Worcestershire had a good system for assessing referrals which was similar to other counties, however there were a couple of outliers for example Staffordshire, whose approach he suggested would overwhelm the WSAB. The Board Manager stressed that even when referrals were assessed as below the threshold this was not to say that they were disregarded since quite a lot of work and signposting took place.

Comment was invited from John Taylor, the Healthwatch Worcestershire representative present who sought clarification on the following two areas:

·       Regarding the number and source of safeguarding concerns, why was there a lack of those classed as high risk for 2019-20, compared to 69 for 2018-19. The WSAB Manager would check with data analysts since data supplied this year was different due to the migration from one system to another.

·       Regarding wicked issues, was there a trend of concerns coming through related to self-neglect and domiciliary care?   

For both these areas, the WSAB Manager would check and the information would be circulated.