Agenda item

To receive and consider the annual report of the Blackpool Safeguarding Adult Board.

Ms Sarah Rahmat, Business Development Manager, Blackpool Safeguarding Adult Board presented the Annual Report of the Blackpool Safeguarding Adult Board  (BSAB) 2017/2018 and highlighted that a new system of robust quality assurance had been put in place over the course of the year in order to assure partners and demonstrate improvement. She also highlighted that the Board was working more closely with Healthwatch and seeking the input and testimony of service users to compliment the statistical data already being captured.

Members noted the annual report and queried the number of referrals received for Serious Adult Reviews (SARs). Ms Rahmat advised that referrals for SARs were subject to strict criteria set out by the Care Act 2014. In response to further questioning, Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services advised the criteria was designed to address partnership working to identify any potential learning and that in Blackpool partners generally worked well together resulting in fewer reviews despite complex safeguarding issues.

The Committee raised concerns regarding the attendance of partners at some of the BSAB meetings highlighting areas of extremely low attendance. In response, Ms Rahmat reported that a key objective of the Independent Chair for 2017/2018 had been to improve attendance and ensure that partners understood their safeguarding responsibilities. The number of meetings had been reduced to encourage partners to attend. Members of the Committee expressed the opinion that a target of 75% attendance was not high enough and that the BSAB be requested to consider increasing expected attendance at meetings to 100%.

The Committee went on to discuss the measures put in place to support adults that had been assessed to have capacity but continued to make decisions that might be considered to not be in their best interest. Ms Smith advised that services must abide by the Care Act, however, if it was considered that the individual’s actions would put them at serious risk of harm then action would be taken.

It was noted that Lancashire Care Foundation Trust (LCFT) was a key partner and had recently been deemed as ‘not safe’ by the most recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection. The Chairman sought assurance that the BSAB was taking action to address the concerns raised. In response, Ms Rahmat advised that the Board regularly quality assured all partners and received regular updates from LCFT on the improvement plan put in place to address the concerns raised by the CQC inspection.

Concern was also raised regarding the closure of the domestic abuse Facebook campaign as it had been recognised to be working. It was reported that the campaign had been time limited and therefore removed once the period had ended. In response, the Committee considered that the end of a set time period was not a good reason to end a campaign that was having an impact and requested that its reinstatement be considered.

The Committee agreed:

1.      To request that that the BSAB consider increasing expected attendance at meetings to 100%.

2.      To request through Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services that the domestic abuse Facebook campaign be reopened.