To receive presentations from the Independent Chair of Haringey’s Safeguarding Adults Board and the Director of Adult Social Services, concerning this sector led initiative.
Minutes:
Dr Adi Cooper, the Independent Chair of Haringey’s Safeguarding Adults Board, provided a presentation on Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP). The presentation was supplemented by information provided by Jeni Plummer, Head of Operations, concerning key messages for Haringey.
Dr Cooper commenced her presentation by explaining safeguarding involved people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect, while at the same time making sure the adult’s wellbeing was being promoted including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action.
The Panel was informed that Making Safeguarding Personal, a sector led initiative, was person-led and outcome-focused and aimed to enhance choice, control and quality of life. It was noted such an approach was about:
- Enabling safeguarding to be done with, not to, people.
- A shift from a process supported by conversations to a series of conversations supported by a process.
- Talking through with people the options they have and what they want to do about their situation.
- Developing a real understanding of what people want to achieve (and how).
- Utilising professional skills rather than “putting people through a process”.
- Achieving meaningful improvement in peoples’ circumstances.
Dr Cooper provided a short history to the MSP initiative and outlined key finding from an evaluation carried out in 2016 by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (adass). Key messages included:
- The majority of local authorities had completed the first step of introducing MSP.
- The MSP approach started mainly in safeguarding teams and services but was rapidly spreading out into generic teams.
- There had been an overall increase in agencies’ involvement in MSP since the 2015 evaluation but some partners’ involvement had actually decreased.
- Most local authorities had rewritten procedures to promote a user-friendly approach.
Dr Cooper concluded her presentation by providing information on recommendations that had been put forward by adass for consideration by local authorities. The following suggestions were discussed:
- Improve ways of managing the increase in safeguarding alerts and referrals by considering integration of front doors.
- Develop a means of gaining a picture of what happens to safeguarding alerts that do not progress to a s.42 enquiry.
- Directors of Adult Social Services should take stock of where their service stands on the road to full implementation of MSP.
- Adult Social Care departments to consider how they can get greater corporate council buy-in to MSP and ensure councillors are aware of it.
- Training providers to modify and update their materials in shifting the culture to embed MSP values.
- All organisations and SABs to do more to meaningfully engage service users in planning and shaping safeguarding services.
- Statutory organisations to enhance prevention by building a pathway into voluntary and community assets.
- Adult Social Care and health commissioners to work more closely with independent care providers to MSP into good service quality.
In response to questions, Ms Plummer provided details on work that had taken place in Haringey to support MSP, including:
- The adapted triage function.
- Improved partnership working between agencies and professionals showing concerned curiosity and due regard.
- Views and desired outcomes being ascertained and recorded before decisions around s42 enquiries were completed.
- Where an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate was required this was requested at the enquiries stage.
- The roll out of s42 enquiries across all services creating an opportunity for enquiries for the adult at risk to be supported by their allocated practitioner.
- Support that was provided to the adult causing harm.
- Quality assurance and improvement and the importance of on-going training.
The Panel went on to discuss a number of issues and considered how a greater sense of Councillors’ responsibility for safeguarding could be manifested.
AGREED:
(a) That the presentations from the Independent Chair of Haringey’s Safeguarding Adults Board and the Director of Adult Social Services be noted, and the Principal Scrutiny Officer be asked to send both presentations to all councillors.
(b) That, to ensure all councillors are kept informed about Making Safeguarding Personal, and developments across this sector led initiative in Haringey, the Independent Chair of Haringey’s Safeguarding Adults Board be asked to prepare an annual briefing note (on one side of A4) for all Members.
(c) That, to ensure greater buy-in to Making Safeguarding Personal, the Independent Chair of Haringey’s Safeguarding Adults Board be asked to consider developing an Adult Safeguarding Charter for Haringey councillors.
(d) That, the Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager and Assistant Director, Strategy and Partnerships, in developing the future Member Learning and Development Programme, be asked to look at ways of making adult safeguarding training compulsory for newly elected Members, and ensuring all members undertake annual refresher training.