Part one open to the public
ITEM NO.A3
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REPORT OF
Lead Member
Community Services and Health
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TO
Cabinet
ON
14 December 2010
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TITLE: 6th Annual Report of the Salford Adult Safeguarding Board – 2009/2010
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RECOMMENDATION:
 Cabinet to agree the Annual Report of the Adult Safeguarding Board
 To confirm the governance arrangements and subsequent report to the
LSP
 To confirm continued support
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Report reflects recent CQC Inspection of the Community, Health and Social Care
Directorate Safeguarding Adults function in March 2010 where the authority was
judged to be Excellent. This has resulted in Salford Adult Social care Services
being given an improved rating for this year, placing us in the top performers in
England. This report recognises the many cross policy and practice connections that
need to be made to ensure that adult safeguarding is everyone’s business.
The key features our service contributing to the ‘Excellence’ rating are:
 Good basic Safeguarding systems & recording, giving solid foundations
 Staff group who are keen and confident in what they are doing
 A happy and motivated workforce with professional pride
 Work with NHS – cutting edge and across Primary Care, Acute Care and
Mental Health
 Work with GMP – exemplar in force – a possible threat!
 Work with Sustainable Regeneration – national cutting edge and emphasis
on learning
 Good partnership working from critical incidents – ‘Partnership – prevents
and protects’.
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BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
6th Annual Report of the Salford Adult Safeguarding Board + Data Analysis
Strategic Objectives of the Board (DRAFT)
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KEY DECISION:
NO
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DETAILS:
1. The Annual Adult Safeguarding Board Report is attached. Set out below are
some of the key issues in relation to both the overall context and the local
issues.
1.1 No Secrets Review - the Law Commission Review of adult social care
legislation will include safeguarding issues relating to a duty to investigate
safeguarding cases and a duty to establish Boards. They are due to report next
year.
Financial abuse national policy leads from Association of Chief Police Officers –
Salford developing procedure with GMP.
1.2 Serious Concerns About A Service - the service is currently dealing with two
serious concerns in nursing homes. This is where there is a cluster of safeguarding
concerns in a service and is often accompanied by commissioning concerns.
Commissioners and safeguarding work together to bring the service up to acceptable
standards and ensure users of the service are safe from abuse or harm. Such
situations take up a lot of staff resources in terms of monitoring, reviewing and multiagency meeting.
1.3 Serious Case Reviews - the service is looking at two cases currently subject to
management review. Both are the result of death of a vulnerable person. The Board
is reviewing it’s criteria for serious case reviews. The Munroe Report looking at the
impact of SCRs in Children’s Services suggest SCR’s are not the most effective way
of implementing lessons learned from case reviews. There is concern that systems
set up to enable services to improve are actually seen more as punitive especially
once they are put in the public arena.
2. Local Issues
2.1 Senior Practitioner Social Work post - this post was established 2009/10. The
appointment is already proving very positive in developing a response to
safeguarding matters in CQC regulated services. This role will need to be
strengthened to maintain our current approach to such cases and to enable some
integrated care teams to function effectively and efficiently – some teams deal with a
great many safeguarding cases.
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2.2 MCA DoLS - the Safeguarding Board have in 2009/2010 taken the
Implementation group of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 under its wing as a sub-group
receiving reports from the co-ordinator. Salford is recognised for being advanced in
our response and implementation of the MCA 2005 – we are the only authority
visiting all regulated services in their area.
Training - continues as the major way of increasing awareness of abusive situations
and how to respond. The safeguarding unit carries out Service Audits annually to
check levels of training in regulated services.
2.3 Increases in alerts – 46.5% = 818. Currently running at 20% increase which
mirrors last year at the half way point. Projected number at 20% = 1000. Last year
saw a surge of alerts in second half of the year so this number may be in excess of
1000.
Form SG3 was introduced to assist in managing volume of alerts and has proven
successful in this. Data shows improved record keeping in the high percentage of
forms completed and in the quality of the recording. The first three forms in
safeguarding have been merged into a single electronic document to collate data
requirements and to make the recording process more efficient.
Alerts – we measure the time from alert to strategy meeting and as a service
achieve an average of 6.7 working days. The Board target remains at 5 working
days. The service target is set at 5.5 working days and is a tough target for services
given the continuous increase in referral rates!
2.4 Data Set - allows management and teams to see how they are doing and adjust
response to work loads. Services managing high volume referrals usually are better
at recording and processing cases – as services gather speed they increase ability
to manage increased safeguarding case workload. Case in point is mental health
services where much effort had gone in to increase awareness and response to
safeguarding situations. As a consequence numbers of cases have increased 50%.
In 2009/2010 there was less efficiency in target meeting and it is expected that this
will be addressed by the service in the current year. In a similar way we are working
with Salford Drug and Alcohol Service and expect to see increased recognition of
safeguarding situations we have been running basic awareness training, we have
identified a social worker who can do investigations in the service and there are a
number of managers attending chair training courses in November 2010.
Completed Cases – This is CQC required information. As a service we average a
93% completion rate at any one time target for this year. The service has a target of
94%in the currently year. This indicates we are working with 50 live cases at any one
time.
Age Distribution – second year running we have had a victim 100 years +.
Risk increases with old age. Lower age hump is mainly learning disability cases.
Middle age hump reflects mental health peak.
Ethnicity – data suggests we have a correct distribution of cases from ethnic
minority groups but contacting such groups remains an issue for us.
Location of abuse – Rise in sheltered accommodation – reflects training for
wardens and activity of Review & Extra Care Sheltered Housing Team.
Perpetrators
Three groups:
 Paid workers – largest group.
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
Other service users – used to be predominantly a learning disability service
issue but improved understanding of the interaction of people with mental
health issues, drug and alcohol use has increased this group. Some very
complex cases involving multiples of people with mental ill health and drug
and alcohol use. with complex relationships. Currently learning that some
self help groups may be targeted by groomers.
 Carer/family – grandchildren issues.
Outcomes – Following training initiatives we have seen an increased in the number
of cases recorded as Substantiated or Not Substantiated. Concentrating on
identifying substance of allegation and hence targeting the investigation has
lessened the number of cases recorded as Inconclusive.
2.5 Minute Takers – a big success story in maintaining standards of recording and
process in safeguarding individuals. Over the summer we have been pulled out by
two of the four being off work – one on long term sickness and one on maternity
leave. Following negotiation with GMW we are about to train Trust staff to do
minutes for safeguarding cases managed by Trust practitioners.
2.6 Customer Feed Back - the adult safeguarding unit initiated this work stream in
2009/2010 – this is just the start but good feed back when the potential victim knows
they are in the safeguarding procedure. It is important that victims know there
concerns are being taken seriously and adult safeguarding is the pinnacle of the
authority showing it’s concern for the individual’s safety and welfare.
Outcomes – In 2009/2010 central Government increased the required data – we
had previously been part of a national pilot project so have been preparing for a little
while. Recent changes to the Carefirst system will allow us to collect this information
electronically rather than manually. These outcomes are quantifiable in terms of
specific service response i.e. increased domiciliary support but more complex is the
question of how we record concepts like ‘safer’ or ‘feeling safe’? How do we identify
if efficiencies affect ‘safety’?
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KEY COUNCIL POLICIES:
The Adult Safeguarding approach is part of the Council’s key policies and supports
the Salford Strategic Partnership objectives.
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EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND IMPLICATIONS:Adult safeguarding is a key process in assisting vulnerable adult to protect
themselves from abuse and/or harm. We would use information from the JSNA, the
activity data and feedback from users of the approach and staff to continually assess
the effectiveness and impact of our approach.
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ASSESSMENT OF RISK:
LOW – the CQC Inspection in March 2010 externally assessed this service and
judged it to be “Excellent”. The Action Plan has been incorporated into this year’s
Business Plan.
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SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Within current budget agreements – the Board and Safeguarding infrastructure is
within the CHSC budget. Other agencies contribute in kind.
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LEGAL IMPLICATIONS: None
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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: None
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OTHER DIRECTORATES CONSULTED:
The Annual Report is a multi-agency report – the board membership includes
representatives from Children’s Services and Sustainable Regeneration. Wide
dissemination of the report across the Council will reinforce the whole Council
commitment to safeguarding.
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CONTACT OFFICER:
Sue Lightup
Tel No: 793 2201
Philip Dand
Tel No: 212 4322
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WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S): ALL
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