Gateshead Safeguarding Adults Annual Report 2023/24

1. Quality Assurance

The Safeguarding Adults Board will continue to prioritise Quality Assurance in its widest sense. This will enable the Board to demonstrate quality and effectiveness at both strategic and operational levels. It aims to support a better understanding of how safe adults are locally and how well local services are carrying out their safeguarding responsibilities in accordance with the Care Act and the Gateshead Multi-Agency Policy and Procedures. In particular, the Board will ensure that quality is driven by learning.

Key actions:

• develop training for front line practitioners that is guided by learning from reviews and inquiries
• develop and implement annual Quality Assurance challenge event
• enhance our multi-agency approach of sharing learning with front line practitioners
• revise the Safeguarding Adults Review Policy and Practice Guidance to include a strengthened approach to practical application of learning
• prepare our Safeguarding Adults Board for the new CQC regulatory model and assessment framework which is expected to commence in April 2023

2. Prevention

Prevention is one of the six Principles of Safeguarding. Within Gateshead we have prioritised preventative work and have produced a range of practice guidance notes and bespoke training courses to support our front-line practitioners. The Board would like to see Prevention at the forefront of all Policies, Procedures and Practice Guidance and woven into practice.

Key actions:

• develop and implement a Multi-Agency Risk Management (MARM) framework as a mechanism for supporting vulnerable residents who do not meet the statutory criteria for safeguarding adults
• support closer integration of public services across the wider Gateshead System, including the work of Public Sector Reform and the Gateshead Care Partnership. Understand and respond to potential safeguarding implications of the Health and Social Care Integration White Paper.
• become Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) / Adult Attachment / trauma informed
• revise the Self-Neglect Practice Guidance note and deliver updated multi-agency practitioner training
• revise the Financial Abuse Practice Guidance note, taking into account the issues arising from implementation of Universal Credit
• strengthen multi-agency arrangements for Modern Slavery in Gateshead; to include awareness raising, responding to pre-planned and unplanned incidents and quality assurance
• raise awareness about Gateshead pathways and provision for all aspects of exploitation, and work in partnership with the new regional Victim Hub
• build community resilience so that our residents are better equipped to keep themselves safe from harm
• develop a more flexible training programme, to include more e-learning and virtual learning opportunities
• develop and implement organisational abuse policy and procedure
• improve partnership working to safeguard people who experience homelessness
• understand the impact of Mental Health Act reform upon the wider safeguarding agenda. Support the Gateshead community mental health transformation programme

3. Communication and engagement

The Safeguarding Adults Board has made significant improvements in Making Safeguarding Personal to ensure that those adults involved within the safeguarding process have their wellbeing promoted and, where appropriate, that regard is given to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs when deciding any action. Consultation has demonstrated that there continues to be a lack of understanding about Safeguarding within the wider community, which can impact upon the effectiveness of Safeguarding Adults as a whole.

Key Actions 2019 - 24 include:

• effectively communicate and champion our good practice
• enhance communication and engagement with partners and providers who are not routinely engaged with the board and sub-groups
• promote safeguarding adult key messages within our communities
• widely promote our safeguarding website and social media presence
• implement our Safeguarding Adult Champion Scheme and develop safe reporting centres
• develop a safeguarding adult resource library which includes communication and engagement tools, including visual media aids
• develop mechanisms to ensure that the views of adults at risk and carers inform the work of the Safeguarding Adults Board

4. Operational practice

Whilst this is a Strategic Plan, the Safeguarding Adults Board must ensure that operational practice is fit for purpose. Whilst significant improvements have been introduced by the Safeguarding Adults Board and our key partners, we know from our quality assurance processes and the sharing of best practice nationally and regionally that further improvements can always be made.

Key actions 2019 - 24 include:

• work with the Health and Wellbeing Board and Community Safety Board to improve how our partner organisations identify and respond to complex cases
• refresh the Safeguarding Adults Board Multi-Agency Policy and Procedures by enhancing accessibility and simplifying the procedures
• enhance our approach to managing risk, to include:
  • understanding perpetrator motivations
  • person centred approach v managing risk
  • identifying and responding to coercive and controlling behaviour
• improve communication flow with referrers, providers and Adult at risk after a concern has been submitted
• strengthen multi-agency safeguarding transition arrangements, including procedures for responding to child to parent violence
• develop a shared approach to missing adults, including consideration of the use of 'vulnerability markers'
• further embed Making Safeguarding Personal throughout Safeguarding Adults practice
• work in partnership to manage levels of demand. This will include the development of an Adult Concern decision making tool
• develop a Gateshead Safeguarding Adults Board People in a Position of Trust (PIPOT) Policy

5. Mental capacity

Understanding and applying the Mental Capacity Act is central to the Safeguarding Adults process. It remains one of our most common areas for improvement in Gateshead, and beyond. Legislative changes are again on the horizon with the proposed Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill which will reform the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and replace them with Liberty Protection Safeguards. The agenda will continue to evolve as new ways of working and case law is embedded into practice. Practitioners need tools and guidance to support them with the practical application of the Mental Capacity Act within everyday safeguarding, assessment, and care provision.

Key actions 2019 - 24 include:

• understand, and effectively respond, to changes within the Mental Capacity Act (Amendment) Act
• monitor the development of the revised Code of Practice for the Mental Capacity Act and develop a mechanism for assuring that the changes within the Code of Practice are effectively implemented within Gateshead
• develop and implement a programme of awareness raising for front line practitioners, providers, partners and the wider public about the application of the Mental Capacity Act
• explore how a health diagnosis supports the practical application of the Mental Capacity Act
• continue to ensure that referrals for advocacy are made in accordance with the Care Act 2014