Agenda item

Southwark Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Annual Report 2012-13

is attached.

The Independent Chair of Southwark Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board,Deborah Klee, will present the report.

Gwen Kennedy,  the CCG director responsible for safeguarding,  will also be present.

5.1  The chair invited the Independent Chair of Southwark Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board,  Deborah Klee,  Jon Newton, Service Manager and Gwen Kennedy, the CCG director responsible for safeguarding to present the Southwark Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Annual Report 2012-13.

5.2  The Service Manager began by explaining that the report was led by the previous Independent Chair, Terry Hut. The report contains a response to the Care Bill, although things have now moved on.  The report gives a statistical analysis of referrals; there has been a 6.6% rise, but 20 % requiring further investigation. This is comparable to national rise of 4%. There is work being done to determine thresholds, so we are comparable to partners.

5.3  The Independent Chair explained that she will be picking up on priorities for the coming year. She said that the first priority is to ensure the board is fit for purpose, this means the partners are really committed and that there is a strategy. One of the strategic priorities is getting the message out to the public. She reported that she is looking to have all the partners chairing each sub group, one is on quality and performance that the CCG director chairs. The board will also being looking at governance relationships with other boards, for example the Health and Wellbeing Board.

5.4  A member commented on the statistic noting that 8.1% of times the perpetrator is listed as ‘not known ‘and the 20.2% of times that the outcome was not determined / inconclusive and the larger number of ‘no further action’ recorded. The Service Manager said there could be a number of reasons for this; for example a police action so not everything is known. Follow up action could also include training. The Independent Chair said the board are doing work to get an outcome that people want - making 'safeguarding personal ' is focused on this and trying to ensure that the victim is involved in the resolution of what can be intimate family relationships .

5.5  A member commented that last year’s annual report to the committee picked up on concerns that there were no alerts from hospitals, and that this year there are some, but they are still very low. The CCG Director reported that the CCG are working with hospital on adult safeguarding training, which is not as embedded as children’s safeguarding. Hospitals also have now got safeguarding leads. It will take time to bed down but there are action plans. The Independent Chair added that the board are getting all the partners round the table to do self assessment.

5.6  The member followed up by asking if the board had looked at comparison statistics for referrals from other hospitals, and enquired about the seniority and attendance at the board from hospitals and other partners.  The Independent Chair commented that sometimes incidents can enter different processes, for example ‘serious untoward incident’, or a police process rather than getting flagged up as a safeguarding alert. She said that she had approached SlaM about the right level of representation on the board and there is also an issue with police participation in Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding Boards across London. She went on to comment that representation should be at the right level of seniority , and actually the board need a balance of personal with operational responsibilities  and strategic influence: people do need to understand the detail.

5.7  A member enquired further about SlaM and the METS poor attendance and the Independent Chair said that she is waiting for a meeting with SlaM’s medical director. The CCG director said that this is being pursued and the she predicts it will improve. The Independent Chair said so far she had not met anybody from the Police and there had been no representation at meetings; however she understands that is to do with staff changes and will change. She added that she also chairs the London safeguarding chair network so that is helpful in highlighting problems such as London wide problems with the METs engagement. A member commented that John Sutherland, the Southwark Borough Commander, is due back and is proactive.

5.8  A member raised concerns with the higher number of financial abuse cases. She asked for the reasons, and if more community awareness would help tackle the issue. The Independent Chair commented that this could be caused by a combination of the recession and social problems. She said there is a high awareness of financial abuse amongst professionals , but lower awareness amongst friends and family , and the board will be running a campaign 'Don't turn your back ' , which will be encouraging people to look out for each other . The CCG director said that the CCG we will be holding sessions on adult safeguarding awareness raising.

5.1  A member commented on the number of ‘Deprivation of Liberty and he said he was reassured that 20 were authorised and 16 refused -, however he noted that the report commented that the Department of Health are saying more should be processed and he asked for clarification. The Independent Chair explained that given the high levels of dementia the board would expect more people to understand and use the procedure.