Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the Oldham Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 200-21.

Dr.Henri Giller and Jayne Ratcliffe, Deputy Manager, Director of Health and Social Care provided Members with an overview of the report.

Members were advised that the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the Board and its partner agencies and substantial working practices had been introduced and innovative ways to identify, respond and meeting safeguarding needs developed.

A consequence of the pandemic was at the height of lockdown significantly reduced visibility of vulnerable people that may have been experiencing a safeguarding need.

The period demonstrated the continuing demand for safeguarding services across the Borough and how the demand reflected the complexities in the dimensions of safeguarding needs presented.

The challenges presented key questions for the Safeguarding Partnership and partners. The Board reflected upon strategies employed to deliver its objectives including to adopt a learning approach including:

·         What worked well?

·         What could we do better?

·         What strategies were required for complex need?

The Board achieved the following in 2020/21 period:

• Adult Safeguarding response to Covid-19 - The Board reacted swiftly to the pandemic by setting up a weekly Covid-19 Assurance Group. Senior leaders from Adult Social Care, police and primary and acute healthcare services monitored local data to identify safeguarding trends and understand the levels of risk for people in Oldham. Additional insight was collected by Healthwatch Oldham, Age UK and Keyring to help understand people’s experiences during lockdown.

• Safeguarding Assurance - The Board distributed safeguarding leaflets to Council and voluntary sector Doorstop Engagement Teams and requested assurance from agencies on emerging issues including responses to domestic abuse, DNACPR concerns (Do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and support for carers.

• Domestic Abuse and Elder Abuse – These emerged as key areas for concern during the Covid-19 lockdown and agencies were quick to adapt services to focus on prevention. Greater Manchester Police led a successful domestic abuse Facebook campaign and the Domestic Abuse Partnership have commissioned the SafeLives charity to work with survivors of abuse to develop an early intervention offer for Oldham.

• All Age Safeguarding Offer - the Board has worked closely with the Oldham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership to develop an all age Safeguarding Communications Plan. As part of this, the joint website and social media platform went live in 2020 and a fortnightly children’s and adults Safeguarding Bulletin was launched to keep practitioners and managers up to date with resources and training opportunities.

• Complex Safeguarding – The Board has identified a growing number of Complex Safeguarding cases. This term is used to describe adults who experience different types of abuse and/or neglect at the same time, with cases often involving criminal activity such as sexual or financial exploitation or trafficking and historical factors such as childhood trauma.

A successful multi-agency forum now meets to support adults with complex safeguarding needs. It brings together statutory, voluntary and independent housing partners to share information and discuss multi-agency barriers and solutions. Regionally, Oldham has  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7