·         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 were interview as part of the Peer review, and the group mentioned that they found it difficult to move on from past arrangements.  The group, however, were more than happy to have a voice on the board and to have links with the PSAB Chair and for the Chair to attend their meetings;

·         they felt that commissioning should be supporting them more and have some concerns on the service and changes in personnel etc;

·         they want to expand their membership to include people from a variety of areas and would welcome board suggestions on how to raise their awareness/profile.

The Chair added that it was great to have this group and it would be an asset for this board to help shape the group.  There was also a need to explore what other boards were doing.