A report presenting the Committee with the West of Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2019/20.

The Executive Director of Social Care and Health submitted a report with attached a copy of the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) Annual Report 2019/20.  The following appendices were attached to the Annual Report:

The report explained that the Annual Report 2019/20 presented what SAB had aimed to achieve on behalf of the residents of Reading, West Berkshire and Wokingham during 2019/20, both as a partnership and through the work of its participating partners.  It provided a picture of who was safeguarded across the area, in what circumstances and why.  It also outlined the role and values of the SAB, its ongoing work and future priorities.

The report noted that in terms of the Council’s Safeguarding Performance Data:

·         There had been a 13.4% reduction in the number of safeguarding concerns in 2019/20 compared to 2018/19;

·         In 2019/20 57% of safeguarding concerns had led to a section 42 enquiry;

·         In 2019/20 58% of section 42 enquiries that had been reported related to older people over 65 years;

·         More women were the subject of safeguarding enquires than men as in previous years;

·         85.2% of section 42 enquiries were for individuals whose ethnicity was White.  There had been a slight decrease of 2.5% in section 42 enquires for individuals whose ethnicity was Mixed, Asian, Black or Other. This continued to be the focus of work for all partners in view of the demographic makeup of the Borough;

·         As in previous years the most common type of abuse for concluded section 42 enquiries were for Neglect and Acts of Omission;

·         For most section 42 enquiries the primary support reason was physical support;

·         As in previous years, the most common location where alleged abuse had taken place were in a person’s own home or in a care home;

·         86% of services users had been asked about the outcomes they desired as part of the Making Safeguarding Personal agenda and engagement of the service user throughout the whole process.

In response to the SAB report 2019/20 the Council had considered the wider safeguarding agenda for the residents of the Borough and had supported the implementation of the following services which supported the statutory work of the Safeguarding Team:

·         The Serious Concerns and Standards of Care Provider framework had been implemented, carried out by the Commissioning Service;

·         The Conversation Counts Model, that had been implemented in 2018, had been delivered and had been continually evaluated and developed as a result of the initial feedback from services uses, staff and external professionals;

·         The use of Direct Payments had been increased as an alternative to the traditional models of care and for Direct Payments to be offered to service users for purchasing support packages;

·         A project had been in initiated to understand how Technology Enabled Care could promote wellbeing, support prevention, maximise independence and self-care, enhance quality of life and reduce the need for safeguarding intervention.

The report stated that most notable in the data was the small drop in the number of safeguarding concerns that had been recorded.  It was noted that there remained some disparity across the West Berkshire Board in the recording of organisational abuse safeguarding concerns and that work was being carried out to address this issue and clarity was being sought from the Department of Health. 

Officers had worked to continue to embrace Making Safeguarding Personal, a nationally led initiative to improve the experiences and outcomes for adults involved in a safeguarding enquiry, and this had been evidenced in the safeguarding data. 

The report stated that the aspiration for 2020/21 was to streamline the pathway for all safeguarding concerns into the Council through the single point of access.  This would support the work of the Safeguarding Team to ensure consistency of approach and offer better efficiency in meeting safeguarding targets.  There would be an updated implementation of the safeguarding electronic file recording system and a review of the way in which the safeguarding statutory function was delivered across Adult Social Care would take place in line with national work being carried out.  The latter was in respect of those individuals who were homeless or had drug and alcohol problems, the outcome of which might increase the responsibilities of the Safeguarding Team which would see an increase in the levels of safeguarding concerns.

Resolved –    That the report be noted.