Agenda item

The KMSAB Annual Report 2015-16 provides an overview of the work carried out by the KMSAB. It celebrates the KMSAB’s achievements, challenges, individual KMSAB partner highlights and challenges and Safeguarding Adult activity data. The report also defines priorities for the coming year to continue to raise awareness of abuse and neglect, to prevent abuse and neglect; and to ensure an effective multi agency response when abuse or neglect occurs.

Discussion:

The Independent Chair of the Kent and Medway Safeguarding Adults Board (KMSAB), Deborah Stuart-Angus, presented the KMSAB Annual Report 2015-16. The Care Act 2014 had made the safeguarding of adults a statutory requirement and required local authorities to establish a Safeguarding Adults Board for their areas.

Achievements of the Board’s Sub-Groups during the year had included development of a performance dashboard, a revised self assessment framework, production of an Annual Plan, creating easy to read meeting documents, creating safeguarding personal workshops, creating easy read meeting documents, review and updating of multi-agency protocol, creating a self-neglect policy and delivery of a multi-agency training programme.

Work was being undertaken to ensure a more robust approach to decision making and to improve governance. Other key areas of focus for 2016-17 would include reviewing the 2014-15 Safeguarding Adults Strategy to inform the development of a new strategic plan and undertaking further work to engage services users and carers in the work of the Board. A review of training provision would also be undertaken as well as agreeing and reviewing multi agency policies and procedures.

There had been a total of 4,174 safeguarding enquiries received in 2015-16. This represented an 18.7% increase across Kent and Medway compared to the previous year. The increase was 19.3% for Kent and 9.8% for Medway. Overall, 60% of alleged victims were female. It was believed that the increase was due to there being increasing awareness and reporting of safeguarding issues. 39% of alleged abuse took place in a care home setting, while 34% took place in a private home. Alleged cases of physical abuse and neglect were increasing.

Members of the Board raised a number of issues which were responded to as follows:

·        ‘At Risk of Going Missing’ pack: The Chairman of KMSAB confirmed that the pack was available in key police stations and it was requested that the pack be circulated to the relevant Member of the Board.

·        Safeguarding alert forms: In response to a Member of the Board who said that the involvement of persons who had previously raised safeguarding concerns appeared to be secondary to the process, it was stated that this was now central.

·        Key challenges: A Member suggested that the key challenges in relation to adult safeguarding should be included in a road map and requested that an update be provided on the challenges. The Independent Chair commented that the road map was working well and included  a risk register.

·        Data analysis: In relation to Member concerns that limited data analysis was being undertaken, the Interim Principal Officer for Adult Safeguarding advised that much of the data related to a specific computer system, which had not been particularly user friendly. This system had been rebuilt in order to facilitate data analysis being undertaken more easily. The data being input into the system would also be reviewed and managers and practitioners were being trained to enable them to extract data from the system.

The Health and Wellbeing Board thanked the Chairman of KMSAB and officers for the report presented to the Board and the insight provided.

Decision:

The Board:

a)    Noted the Annual Report, made the comments above and considered the implications for the Health and Wellbeing Board.

b)    Requested that the Chair of KMSAB arrange for the ‘At Risk of Going Missing’ pack to be sent to the Member of the Board who had requested this.