Agenda item

Briefing Note

The Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) received a briefing note and presentation by the Safeguarding Board Business Manager and the Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board, which provided an overview of the Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2021/22 and Performance Framework.

The Board noted that the Coventry Safeguarding Adults Board (CSAB) is a partnership of organisations that work to both prevent and end abuse of adults with care and support needs within Coventry.

The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to establish a Safeguarding Adults Board for its area, with the objective of protecting adults in its area in cases where the adult a) has care needs; b) is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect; and c) as a result of those needs is unable to protect himself or herself against the abuse or neglect or the risk of it.  Under the Care Act 2014, one of the core duties of the Safeguarding Adults Board is to publish an annual report detailing what the Board has done during the year to achieve its main objectives and implement its strategic plan, what each member has done to implement the strategy, as well as detailing the findings of any safeguarding adult review and subsequent actions. The CSAB Annual Report 2021/22 is in line with this requirement. 

The Annual Report identified an upward trajectory of both the number of adults referred as a concern and the conversion rate from concern to enquiry during 2021/22 after a significant decline during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020/21.  End of year data showed that 93% of safeguarding enquiries had the risk reduced or removed in 2021/22, which evidenced that most people were being kept safe as a result of their engagement with services.  Financial, neglect, acts of omission and physical abuse remained the top abuse times for concluded safeguarding enquiries in Coventry in 2021/22.  The increase in enquiries relating to self neglect was a trend that continued throughout the year. There was no change in the number of concluded safeguarding enquiries relating to domestic abuse, in contrast to local and national reports of domestic abuse increasing in other areas of the system.  It was noted that work was being carried out as part of the Domestic Abuse Strategy to raise awareness and help practitioners be better equipped to support adults experiencing domestic abuse.

The Scrutiny Board were advised of the importance of obtaining information on the experience of the person in receipt of Safeguarding Adults Services, including through the Safeguarding Awareness Week, family and service users involved in Safeguarding Adult Reviews, the voice of service users in audits, ‘real time experience’ surveys launched by the Council and by the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire through mandated fields within referrals for staff to capture patient and family views.  Feedback was also obtained from partners, staff and leaders.

The Quality Assurance Framework highlighted that the CSAB Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement Framework helps the Board to ensure that adults who have care and support needs and who are unable to protect themselves are safeguarded, by using a wide range of key quality and performance indicators aligned to the CSAB priorities.  These are scrutinised and challenged through a robust, systematic process.  This also provided assurance to the Board and the CSAB Executive Group that partner agencies have effective systems and processes and practice in place to improve outcomes and experience in the context of safeguarding adults at risk, and that the quality of the work undertaken in Coventry is to a sufficient standard.  The Framework is published to allow transparency around the assessment of effectiveness.

Members of the Scrutiny Board asked questions and received responses in relation to the following matters:

·  How sure the CSAB were about the 93% figure in risks being reduced or removed and whether that is linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

·  Whether any work is undertaken to monitor repeat referrals.

·  How cases are referred for Safeguarding Adult Reviews.

·  Information on the Deprivation of Liberties Safeguarding (DoLS) figures.

·  The number of adults currently in care in Coventry.

The Scrutiny Board requested that the information in respect of Governance Arrangements be updated in future years to reflect that the report was shared with Elected Members.

RESOLVED that the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board welcome the Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report and Performance Framework.