Agenda item

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 also taken a lead role exploring and developing agencies understanding of complex safeguarding issues through a partnership project with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

• Self-neglect and Hoarding - Learning from a Thematic Safeguarding Review is changing the way services identify and support people who self-neglect. A new multi-agency strategy and practitioner tool kit covering self-neglect and hoarding was launched in 2020. This guidance, along with case study examples, 7-Minute Briefings and Grab Guides were designed to develop practitioner’s knowledge and confidence to deal with complex cases involving self-neglect.

• Training and Workforce Development Strategy - In March 2021, the Board launched its multi-agency training strategy. It sets out flexible learning options through online resources and webinars, as well as plans to roll out a formal programme of Section 42 Safeguarding Referrer, Mental Capacity Act and Self-Neglect training in 2021/22.

Each year, partner agencies provide a summary of their safeguarding work for publication in the Board’s 2020/21 Single-Agency Reports. The following pages provide summaries from Oldham Council, NHS Oldham CCG and Greater Manchester Police as the three lead agencies on the Board.

The Annual Business Plan April 2021- March 2022 was detailed at p.68 to the report and outlined the strategic objectives and priorities for 2021/22 including domestic abuse, complex and contextual safeguarding, back to basics training  and the Learning hub.

It was also reported that staff had prioritised adult safeguarding and reviewed existing protection plans and this had resulted in the practice being recognised by ADASS as a beacon of good practice.

Members welcomed the report and asked if there was any impact of GP’s surgeries becoming virtual and if this had decreased visibility or affected referrals. It was reported that GP’s had continued to make referrals and risk huddles had been developed around people with complex needs in the geographical clusters on a weekly basis.

Members enquired about the increase in domestic abuse and were advised that a joint approach was being undertaken with Adults and Children’s social care and work had been commissioned to address this area. Due to the amount of referrals the threshold criteria had been raised but this had been addressed and work in partnership with Greater Manchester Police had been undertaken.

RESOLVED – That:

1.    The report be noted.

2.    An updated be provided to the committee in 12 months.