Westminster Safeguarding Adults Board - Westminster City Council

Westminster City Council › Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2008 Westminster City Council › Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report 2008
Letter from the Chair of the Board
The Westminster Safeguarding Adults Board is a multi-agency partnership responsible for
leading and overseeing all strategic and operational inter-agency safeguarding adults work in
Westminster, as required by No Secrets.
The Board is made up of representatives from all key statutory agencies, and from the
independent and voluntary sector. Members of the Safeguarding Adults Board are sufficiently
senior to represent their organisation and to make multi-agency agreements on behalf of their
organisation.
This year, facing the challenge of delivering independence, well-being and choice, the Board
has been determined to work together to strengthen the safeguarding adults systems within
the City. We have been developing a network of safeguarding “champions” in all the statutory
agencies and our third sector partner organisations. We are working with service users and
carers as experts and care partners to raise awareness of abuse and promote dignity and
respect in local services.
In general, Westminster residents are well served and protected from abuse and harm by the
responsiveness and diligence of front-line staff and managers in all services. But we are not
complacent and are committed to continuously improving our performance in this key area,
and in raising public awareness of adult abuse to the same level of that of protecting children.
To this end, the Board commissioned an evaluation in year of its Safeguarding activity, using
case samples and interviews with key stakeholders. This has given us a position statement
with regard to the effectiveness of its current systems and recommendations for improvement.
A key recommendation has already been met. Westminster City Council and Primary Care
Trust have jointly funded a full-time safeguarding adults lead post. The post-holder is working
with frontline staff in all agencies to develop their practice in the context of transformation of
Adult Social Care, helping staff to meet the challenge of balancing risk and safeguarding with
increased user choice, independence and self-directed care.
The safeguarding adults lead is developing an audit tool to help track cases more
systematically. This will capture outcomes for service users and any learning from practice,
and inform the workforce development strategy and fine-tune Safeguarding procedures.
By this time next year, we anticipate being able to strongly evidence the improvements we
have made to the safety and well-being of Westminster’s most vulnerable residents, hopefully
using their own testimony, as expert partners in safeguarding adults.
Zena Deayton
Assistant Director
Social Care Services
This year’s achievements
Westminster Safeguarding Adults Board
The Safeguarding Adults Board has worked hard this year to strengthen its membership
so that all key partner agencies are properly represented and that each member is able to
champion safeguarding effectively within their organisation. Members have been working to
ensure that their work on the Board is directly linked to the governance arrangements of their
organisation. This is in line with standards 1 and 2 of the Association of Directors of Adult
Social Services (ADASS) National Framework of Standards for best practice in safeguarding
adults. Board members attended an away-day in April 2008, which provided the opportunity to
reflect on their responsibilities and track the progress of key priorities.
The safeguarding adults work plan has been linked to the ADASS National Framework of
Standards for the past two years. The 2007/08 plan was ambitious. Most of the tasks have
been completed and it has served to demonstrate the need for more designated staff time to
ensure all aspects of work are robust and safe.
Board sub-group: Mental Capacity Act 2005 Local Implementation Group
The Westminster Local Implementation Group with representatives from key health, social
care and voluntary organisations was set up in November 2006 as a sub-group of the
Safeguarding Adults Board. The work of this group has ensured that the Mental Capacity Act
has been publicised as widely as possible throughout the City, using websites and printed
material. The training programme has been very successful in developing staff confidence
and competence in all partner agencies to support decision-making and undertake mental
capacity assessments.
The effectiveness of the training strategy is reflected in the number of appropriate referrals that
have been made by Westminster to the Independent Mental Capacity Advocate service.
Westminster led the tendering and contract let process for the Independent Mental Capacity
Advocate service across seven London boroughs to ensure that a specialised service could
be provided for a range of client needs. The contractor providing the Independent Mental
Capacity Advocate service is performing well across all seven boroughs.
Ongoing staff advice and guidance on specific cases continues to be provided by a Mental
Capacity Act champions group, made up of staff representatives from adult social and health
care teams.
The Local Implementation Group refreshed its terms of reference in March 2008. It will coordinate
Westminster’s multi-agency response to the introduction of Deprivation of Liberty,
building on the networks and strategies that have been so effective with the implementation of
the Mental Capacity Act. A time-limited senior level post will be created to develop the systems
required to support staff in all agencies to respond consistently, effectively and within the law.