Agenda item

Report of the Safeguarding Adults Board

Joan Beck, Chair of the Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item  

The Board considered a briefing note on the Annual Report of the Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board for 2017/18. A copy of the Annual Report was set out at an appendix to the briefing note. The Board also received a presentation which provided the Board with background information on the Safeguarding Adults Board. The Annual Report was introduced by Joan Beck, Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board. Councillor Abbott, Cabinet Member for Adult Services attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. The Annual Report was also to be submitted to the Health and Well-being Board.

The Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board was a multi-agency partnership made up of a range of organisations that contributing towards safeguarding in Coventry. The Board was required to publish an annual report and business plan. The report summarised the key messages for the year and included the business plan which enabled the Board to plan upcoming work. The annual report also included performance data for the year which was monitored on a quarterly basis by the Board. The annual report was a key way of raising awareness of the issue of safeguarding adults.

Joan Beck informed the Board that the 2017-18 referral rate for adult safeguarding enquiries was significantly higher than the 2016-17 rate for the first few months of the year but stabilised from December onwards. Roughly 17% of the referrals go on to become enquiries. Approximately 80% of all referrals were processed within 2 days. The main category of abuse this year was neglect followed by physical then financial abuse. Throughout the year fewer than 11% of referrals were individuals already known to the Council. In 92% of cases the risk to the individual was either reduced or completely removed by the end of the safe guarding enquiry. In 4% of cases the risk was judged to remain, due to adults with capacity making decisions choosing their situation and having their wishes respected. Making Safeguarding personal had been a key focus for all Coventry partners across the year. In 2017/18 the wishes of service users were either met or partially met in the majority of cases.      

In conclusion there was an effective referral process in Coventry where decisions were made in a timely manner and where, in the majority of cases, risk was removed or reduced to a safe level. The Board noted that there was effective advocacy support available, in line with the requirements of the Care Act.

The Board questioned the Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board on a number of issues relating to the Annual report and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Clarification about the take up levels for basic training by employees

·  How other organisations were held to account if they didn’t meet their requirements

·  Information on Serious Case Reviews, with one being completed during 2017/18

·  The relationship between the Safeguarding Adults Board and the CQC

·  What was the Board doing to get safeguarding messages out to the hard to reach communities in the city and the role of communities to ensure their residents were safe

·  Were the main categories of abuse what the Board expected to see and did Coventry have any specific issues

·  Assurances about levels attendance at Board meetings by individual partner organisations.

RESOLVED that the content of the Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2017/718 be noted.