Andy Bickley welcomed everyone to the meeting.  As the new Chair he reported that a lot of preparatory work had taken place outside of this meeting to look at the direction for this board and this included a business plan, finance plan, impact of the Care Act, service delivery and what this board supports.  The Chair reported that he’s passionate about the safeguarding agenda and looking at a whole family approach to safeguarding.  This was an opportunity to align the way this board works with regard to the children’s agenda.

The Chair gave thanks to Jim Gould for his work as previous Chair and extended thanks to Geoff Baines for managing the transition and the support to this board prior to his arrival.  There was a huge programme of work for this board and to get a handle on all the implications and complexities of need.  The landscape was changing and the Chair requests the board’s support to achieve the right outcomes.

This board to have a clear identity and to identify the purpose of the board, what difference this board will make and as board members what do you want to take away with you?  It was really important that if any agency was struggling that this board provides support to that agency.  The business plan would set out the ambition and vision for this board and the Chair asks the board for feedback and challenge on the plan.

Agreed that the Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Board Business plan is signed off in April 2015.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on the 3 October 2014 be confirmed.

Matters Arising

·         Minute 19 - self-assessment.  The board would receive an update later in the agenda. 

·         Minute 20b - making safeguarding personal.  A single agency working group had been established with planned meetings set up.  Meeting with Ian Lightley on how this will link with the integrated service.  This action is on-going.

·         Minute 20b (2) – linking with PSCB.   Action on-going.

·         Minute 20c (1) Peer challenge.  Action completed. 

·         Minute 20c (2) Peer challenge.  Yet to establish an interface.  Action on-going.

·         Minute 20d (1) Serious Self Neglect.  The person in mind no longer has the capacity to be the Champion.  Action on–going.

·         Minute 24 – Any Other Business

-       Safeguarding leaflet - a copy of the leaflet, ‘Safeguarding Adults – Everybody’s Business was circulated to board members and was also available on the website for partners to access.

-       Representative from the voluntary and community sector (VCS) to sit on the board.  This has been explored and not yet identified someone to represent the VCS on the board.  Discussions had taken place with Healthwatch and through those discussions may identify a suitable person.

In accordance with the code of conduct the following declarations were made -

·         Peer Challenge

·         Adults who self-neglect

·         Care Act update

Jane Elliot Toncic provided the board with the Safeguarding Manager’s Report.  It was reported that –

Peer Challenge

The Peer Challenge was completed in early December and final report received in January.  The following comments were raised -

·         interesting and useful process to undertake and feedback received was very helpful.  The Peer Challenge raised issues that the Board needs to focus on and an action plan to be developed and shared;

·         the Peer Challenge covered a number of areas and was a great starter for developing the board priorities for this year;

·         good representation from a range of providers although a commitment from GPs would be something to address;

·         the Chair welcomed colleagues observations on the membership for this board.

Financial Abuse

It was reported that there had been a lot of activity and awareness on financial abuse.  Multi-agency training was taking place in February to highlight financial abuse and an additional training session would be provided for the voluntary and community sector.

The National Scams Hub sends out performance data and there were currently 148 local authorities signed up and it was reported that the average age of people scammed was 73.9 years.  There were various ways that people get exploited from distraction burglary and letter scams and people feel ashamed of being scammed and often this crime will go unreported.  Is this an issue the board would like to focus on or raise awareness of?

In response to the questions raised, it was reported that -

·         there were currently 600 people that were suspected of being targeted since the National Scams Hub had been in operation;

·         reputable firms were selling loans with no legal comeback;

·         serious self-neglect was an issue and the prevention and financial abuse falls into this category and requirement for this board was to ensure that people that are vulnerable to risks were kept safe.  If this board has the capacity to undertake prevention work and financial abuse would fall into this category;

·         this was identified in the Care Act and often led to different types of other abuse;

·         people didn’t recover well from this type of abuse and also had an impact on health and social care system much earlier;

·         the SAB Conference was now taking place on 12 June and would like support for this conference from the board.

Agreed that before the PSAB makes a decision on whether to progress financial abuse as a priority, this board needs to have an understanding on the scale of financial abuse for Plymouth.

Care Act Update

A working group was set up in preparation for the Care Act.  A draft SAB checklist was drawn up and this board needs to look at compliance and membership.  It is also a requirement for this board to have a dedicated safeguarding manager.

Agreed that the Chair and Jane Elliot-Toncic to meet to look at the implications of the Care Act for the PSAB.

PAUSE Update

PAUSE meeting took place on 12 January.   It was reported that –

·         they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Julian Mouland provided the board with an update on the self-audit.  The board was assessed against 6 topics –

·         Leadership

·         Organisational Responsibilities

·         Workforce

·         Interagency Working

·         Issues of Diversity

·         Empowerment

A good response to the audit with an overall scoring was 70% green, 23% amber and some areas red.  The audit identified some common areas and a task and finish group to address this.  Julian thanked everyone for their involvement. 

Agreed that –

1.         Use audit information to inform the 2015/16 PSAB strategic plan priorities.

2.         Board Partners take appropriate action in their identified areas for development.

3.         Where Partners require assistance to achieve improvement, support will be available from the Board and Partners.

4.         Where Partners identify common or shared areas for development, the Board supports a task and finish group to plan and progress outcomes for individual Partners and the Board.

Jane Elliot Tonic provided the board with an update on DoLS.  The report includes a breakdown from April to December on the number of applications received from care homes and hospitals. The SAB DoLS Supreme Court task and finish group have met and plan to meet again in May.  The Chair asked whether all agencies had a deep understanding of this agenda and the task and finish group would look at how agencies work together to reduce the impact. 

The following comments were raised –

·         it was forecast in May last year that there would be demand issues and how agencies would respond to the changes;

·         it was suggested that local authority leads and clinical leads could put on a session for this board looking at this area in more detail;

·         it was reported that NHS England had provided £8k for this board to develop training awareness around this agenda;

·         that the report only gives a fraction of the picture and the 39 applications from Derriford Hospital were Plymouth patients.  The problem was much bigger and more complex than this.  The DoLS Officers all work very differently this was a real concern and we could all face a legal challenges;

·         there was a need to look at the quality of the requests submitted and for each agency to demonstrate the safeguarding of vulnerable adults;

·         checks and balances were taking place and reassurance was provided that  this was a high priority for the local authority.  In terms of resources, whilst the numbers are a concern it was endeavoured to hit the high priority as soon as possible.  Training of a wide range of staff to address this issue;

·         this agenda came about following a supreme court judgement and there were currently no resources to deal with this.  It was projected that there was no expectation that any government would address this issue until 2016/17.

Agreed that –

1.         the Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Board to receive a presentation on DoLS in April looking at the risk and board accountability.

2.         DoLS is a service priority for the Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Board.

3.         further investigation into how the £8k from NHS England can be spent.

The Chair led a discussion on SAB Business for 2015-16.  The core responsibility and role for this board was assurance and safeguarding and any work this board undertakes has to be aligned to the business planning and priorities for this board.

The following comments were made -

·         DoLs was a concern with the lack of legal literacy across agencies.  To address this look at awareness raising workshops;

·         NHS reforms relooking at the gap in referral pathways in health.  The transition for an integrated commissioning from 1 April 2015 was a high priority on policies and procedures;

·         Information sharing protocol needs to be refreshed and up to date against the context of the social care act and compliance;

·         Review of multi-agency procedures was underway and the Policy and Procedure group were meeting next week to discuss this;

·         making safeguarding personal was a strong driver for the local authority;

·         undertake a review of the sub groups underneath the Board and look at how we link with the children safeguarding board.

Agreed that the Chair will work with Jane and others over the next few weeks to develop the business plan with a firm draft to be presented at the April meeting.

None.

The board agreed future agenda items -

April Meeting -

·         MCA/DoLs Presentation

·         Business Plan Draft

Future items for the agenda –

·         Jim Cole has offered to attend a future board meeting on Human Trafficking.

The board agreed the change of date and time for future meeting to take place on a Thursday and commence at 10 am apart from the April meeting which will still take place on a Friday.

Friday 24 April 2015

Thursday 16 July 2015

Thursday 8 October 2015

Thursday 21 January 2016

The Chair welcomed suggestion for venues for meetings.

Agreed that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public are excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Board received an update on Serious Case Reviews.