Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Peter Davis and Peter Money. Councillor Morse was present as Councillor Money’s substitute.

Apologies were also received from Dan Kennedy.

None.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 February 2018 be approved as a correct record.

It was confirmed that there were no Part II items, and that all business would therefore be conducted in public.

Steve Ashley, Independent Chairman of Hillingdon’s Safeguarding Adults Board, introduced the draft SAB Annual Report. It was confirmed that the draft report had been brought to the Committee to provide Members with the opportunity to review the content and request any changes or additions ahead of the final report, which was to be published later in the year.

An updated version of the draft report was tabled at the meeting. The Committee was informed that the draft report was still awaiting the inclusion of certain information, including details around domestic abuse and the year-end performance figures.

Mr Ashley provided the Committee with a general presentation on the topic of safeguarding adults.

It was confirmed that Safeguarding Adults Boards have three core duties:

1.    Develop and publish an Annual Strategic Plan setting out how they will meet their strategic objectives and how their members and partner agencies will contribute. 

2. Publish an Annual report detailing how effective their work has been.
3. Arrange Safeguarding Reviews for any cases which meet the criteria, detailing the findings and subsequent action.

It was highlighted that adult boards were still relatively new, and Hillingdon’s board was still growing. However, feedback from recent meetings had shown that the Hillingdon Board’s development was ahead of other London Boards.

The six principles of safeguarding adults were confirmed as:

•      Empowerment

•      Prevention

•      Proportionality

•      Protection

•      Partnership

•      Accountability

The differences between safeguarding children and safeguarding adults were highlighted, with adults having the right to reject safeguarding and put themselves at risk, should they wish. There was, therefore, a balance to be found between ensuring the safety of adults while respecting their choices.

Developments in Multi Agency working were set out, and included:

•      Business plan 2015-2019.

•      Launch of Making Safeguarding Personal

•      SAB Executive Board.

•      Community Safety Partnership.

•      Local Safeguarding Children Board.

•      Masterclass Sepsis Event

Sepsis was recognised as a serious issue, with the number of instances of Sepsis related deaths increasing. It was highlighted that deaths could be prevented if sepsis was identified early, and relevant training sessions had been run to ensure relevant staff were trained to recognise its symptoms. More training was planned for future months.

Ethnicity statistics were set out, though there were issues with the accuracy of this data. It was agreed that Mr Ashley would forward updated data to the Committee via the clerk.

In 2016-17, investigations conducted by social care teams found that the most common forms of abuse were:

•      Neglect  - 186 cases.

•      Physical abuse  - 83 cases.

•      Financial / material abuse - 89 cases.

Abuse occurred in:

•      Own home - 20%

•      Care homes - 28%

It was recognised that the remaining 52% could occur in a wide variety of locations.

Regarding Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), the Committee was informed that DoLS remained controversial, due to the amount of work and cost inherent to it. In many cases, costs resulted from court cases, which were seen to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

RESOLVED:  That the draft Work Programme 2018/19 be noted.