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Agenda item

ADULTS ANNUAL SAFEGUARDING REPORT

Report to be presented by Aileen Buckton, Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Executive Board and Louise Butler, Interim Head of Safeguarding

Minutes:

10.1    Aileen Buckton (Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Executive Board) and Louise Butler (Interim Head of Safeguarding) presented the annual report of the Safeguarding Adults Executive Board for 2019-2020.

 

10.2    The Board was provided with an overview of the following key highlights contained within the report:

 

·         The safeguarding statistics for each borough were presented and it was noted how 3 out of 4 safeguarding concerns raised were by statutory agencies. Work was being undertaken with service users and community organisations to encourage more referrals from people in the community in addition to widening the number of agencies making referrals to ensure everyone understood safeguarding was their concern. The Board noted that three out of ten enquiries involved a social care provider and the main abuse type was neglect and acts of omission. The Board was informed this mainly related to care quality issues.

 

·       Work continued on Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) by hearing the voices of residents and their experiences of the safeguarding process. User groups had been involved in reviewing the materials on the ‘say no to abuse booklet’ and advised the communications team on how to improve the accessibility of the booklets. A joint programme of events and practice tools with the local Safeguarding Children’s Board had also been developed. This approach enabled overarching strategies such as “MSP” and “Think Family” to be linked into the work of the wider Safeguarding communities.

 

·       The SAEB and member agencies had undertaken significant work to ensure residents were at the centre of decision making about their care, treatment, and safety. Work continued to tackle financial abuse and fraud by helping people protect themselves and others against scams. The Board was pleased to note that in November 2019 the Safeguarding Adults Awareness Week campaign had been both a national and local success. In the Bi-Borough residents had the opportunity to watch the ‘Safe at Home’ (short films) which were co-produced with service user groups, received helpful information from local services on scam awareness, wellbeing and safety, and had the opportunity to ask any safeguarding related questions.

 

·       As a partnership, work continued to look at information about local safeguarding activity to inform its priorities. It considered recommendations and lessons learned from both national and local Safeguarding Adult Reviews to understand what needed to change.

 

10.3    The Board expressed its thanks for all the hard work undertaken by SAEB to ensure that member agencies worked together, and independently, to secure the safety of residents who were at most at risk of harm from others, or through self-neglect. The report and its findings were discussed, and the Board was grateful for the production of such a comprehensive report in what were challenging times. During the discussions several areas regarding the presentation of information were identified as requiring a slight amendment but subject to these changes it was agreed to accept the report.

 

           RESOLVED:

 

           That the Board accepted the 2019/20 Annual Report of the SAEB, and in particular noted and lent its support to the priorities that were informing the work of the SAEB during 2020/21.

Supporting documents: