Westminster Safeguarding Adults Board - Westminster City Council

12 Westminster City Council › Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2008 Westminster City Council › Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2008 13
services. There needs to be greater clarity of thresholds for action, joint risk-assessments,
better communication of decisions and clarity of roles and responsibilities, especially when
staff are implicated in the abuse.
The contracts unit of the Adults Services Department of Westminster City Council has regular
contact with all contracted services and is therefore pivotal in creating relationships with
providers and contractors. This is through regular monitoring meetings which usually take
place on a quarterly basis. There are also visits to service users as part of the monitoring
of quality for some contracts. Safeguarding issues are discussed at quarterly monitoring
meetings and actions are identified to ensure appropriate actions have been taken. Council
officers are keen to improve monitoring and reporting of safeguarding adults’ issues,
particularly in relation to home care, and to strengthen our partnerships.
A priority for the coming year is building a stronger framework for responding to
establishments or agencies where there are serious concerns, linking up information
complaints, contract monitoring, care management, safeguarding leads, the Commission for
Social Care Inspection, users carers and advocates, and from the organisation themselves.
Prevention of abuse
Preparatory work by the council and contracted organisations ensures that that they have
robust recruitment practices and undertake criminal record bureau checks for all staff working
with vulnerable adults. They are prepared for the introduction of the vetting and barring
scheme under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which will replace the Protection
of Vulnerable Adults scheme next year.
in the partnership and to share their expertise through presentations to various audiences
across London.
Westminster is developing a Choice and Control board to steer the transformation of social
care and it is anticipated that members of this board, predominantly service users, will provide
guidance on the management of risk and safeguarding in the context self-directed care.
Reporting and monitoring activity
A full report of safeguarding activity in Westminster this year is in Appendix 3. The comparison
with last year’s figures shows a pleasing and steady increase in the number of alerts that are
being captured on SWIFT, with nine out of ten initial enquiries leading to a strategy meeting,
and seven out of ten strategy meetings leading to a formal investigation.
This is the first full year that the data has been captured on SWIFT and although it is a timeconsuming
data entry process, the quality of data, including recording of outcomes, has
undoubtedly improved.
The evaluation commissioned by the board this year has provided qualitative data to
supplement the prevalence data and indicates where the systems supporting safeguarding
adults work in Westminster needs to be further strengthened.
Links to strategic partnerships: crime and disorder
The city’s crime and disorder partnership is setting up a multi-agency risk assessment
conference, an information-sharing framework for agencies working with victims of domestic
violence, which, since the introduction the Domestic Violence Crimes and Victims Act 2004,
includes vulnerable adults who may be being abused by a family member.
The multi-agency risk assessment conference is about developing a strong multi-agency
approach and response to domestic abuse, in order that each agency has a more
comprehensive idea of what is occurring in a victim’s life and can respond accordingly.
The safeguarding adults lead has been asked to be a representative on the Multi-Agency Risk
Assessment Conference. Workshops have developed a common risk assessment model and
the process for referring high risk cases and an information sharing protocol.
Service users as key partners
The learning disability self-advocacy group, Our Choice, has launched and distributed an
action against bullying accessible leaflet and a training package which they have delivered to
all staff attending Learning Disability Qualification training.
People with learning disabilities continue to be involved in the recruitment of staff working