Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health, Care & Wellbeing

The Select Committee had requested Key Performance Indicator data on adult safeguarding to help inform areas for future work.  The Cabinet Support Member for Adult Safeguarding introduced the report, highlighting the increase of 18% in the number of concerns referred around abuse or neglect and that 45.1% of these converted to a Section 42 enquiry. Whist Staffordshire had seen a significant increase in referral rates it had seen a decrease in conversion, leading to Staffordshire’s conversion rate being more in line with national data.

Members queried why Staffordshire’s trend in the number of concerns of abuse or neglect referred was three times that of the national figure, with an increase of 6% nationally and 18% in Staffordshire for 2015/16. In part this was due to differences over the point at which cases were recorded, with Staffordshire recording very early in the process, when a concern may end up being a quality rather than a safeguarding issue.  Examples of quality issues could be a late call by carers, or a missed visit, or overcharging by a provider. Issues of quality still needed to be recorded and monitored but needed to be recorded differently.

With regard to the 18% increase in referrals and the 20% in conversions to a Section 42 enquiry, Members asked whether this was due to a cohort of third party organisations making referrals without understanding the thresholds or if Staffordshire’s thresholds were too high. An internal audit had taken place this year, and an external audit had been completed in 2016, with both of these finding that Staffordshire was working in line with the Care Act 2014, and therefore working with appropriate thresholds. The manner of recording did, however, vary significantly. Attempts were being made to address this lack of recording consistency, both locally and regionally, including work with the local Safeguarding Board to ensure policies and protocols work well and that consistency of application is improved. The Select Committee requested that they be kept informed of developments in improving consistency of data recording. Members also noted the intention to undertake an audit identifying repeat referrals and the underlying reasons behind these, with a view to developing multi-agency guidance that will set thresholds for appropriate referrals. This audit was expected to start in January 2019 and would be completed by another independent local authority.

Some of the frustrations in using Care Director were discussed. There was an  issue around the inability to update a certain screen which meant that in some circumstances cases remained recorded as “open” on Care Director and this then led to an increase in indicator SA6, recording the number of safeguarding referrals and enquiries that remained open after 12 months. Members were also informed of a “bolt on” to the system used for the children’s services that was now being requested for adults which should see improvements. Care Director gave access to current and accurate data and Members requested three year comparative data on the safeguarding indicators, which would be circulated after the meeting.

Both children and adult services used Care Director and Members asked whether there was the ability to share information between systems where this was appropriate for the individual. Historically adult social workers had not had access to children’s records, however there was a move now to allow the five adult safeguarding officers “read only” access. This would help in identifying the risks to young adults to be identified by the Adult Safeguarding Team.

On querying whether there was enough staff resource Members were informed that the Adult Safeguarding Team had been able to maintain their staff team, however they were under increasing pressure. The Team had one of the lowest sickness rates within the County Council.

RESOLVED: That:

a)    the Select Committee receive details of developments in improving consistency of data recording, including the work undertaken both locally and regionally and the results of the audit on the underlying reasons for repeat referrals; and,

b)    three year comparative data on the safeguarding indicators be circulated to Members after the meeting.