Agenda item

The Director of Health and Wellbeing reported that recent organisational changes in the NHS and the impending change in legislation arising from the Care and Support Bill required Safeguarding Adults Boards to refresh and reframe the way they worked.  The legislative changes put the Boards onto a statutory footing, challenging partners to ensure that they were given equivalence to Safeguarding Children’s Boards in relation to seniority of membership.  It was also essential that the Board took a strategic approach to safeguarding adults ensuring that the services delivered were effective, safe and capable of continual improvement in line with national expectations and developments.

Rotherham’s Safeguarding Adults Board had met on 8^th May to review and refresh its vision, mission, strategic objectives, Governance Framework and Board structure.  The report submitted outlined each of the areas of change and set out proposals to be agreed by the Board.

The Board recognised that, whilst it had been successful in implementing a range of improvements over the last 3 years, its focus had become increasingly operational in nature with the operational sub-groups having become much less successful over the last year.  There was insufficient separation between the Board and sub-group business resulting in repetition and a lack of challenge.  The following changes were proposed:-

-          Membership – drawn from senior levels in the organisation that were represented and able to represent at Board level in the organisation and be effective decision makers

-          Meetings – the Board would meet quarterly. 

-          Sub-Groups – a task and finish group would review the existing activities and report to the Board.  Each sub-group should have effective Terms of Reference and a work plan.  They would be able to hold partners to account for the rigour and quality of their assurance mechanisms.  The sub-groups proposed were Prevent, Perform and Innovate

-          Strategic Aims – a refreshed set of strategic aims, vision and mission

-          Governance – the Board had agreed that it should focus on:-

·       Holding organisations to account for their Safeguarding practice

·       Ensuring that the Board’s strategic aims were implemented, reviewed and refreshed with a clear statement of multi-agency commitment

·       Explicit commitments on membership

·       Board stakeholder involvement

·       Strategic leadership

·       Commitment to continual improvement

-          Engagement with Customers – an annual forum to be held to engage with a wider group of customers some of who may have had experience of the Safeguarding process all of them with experiences of community or Service settings which supported them to feel safe or otherwise.  An additional annual forum would be held with provider organisations, wider VCS organisation etc. as a way of ensuring extended membership of the Board

-          Focus on Outcomes – in addition to a focus on Prevent and Protection, the Board should have a specific focus on Outcomes

The Board had also agreed to adopt a Safeguarding Adults Charter and a partnership agreement of commitment which would be adopted by all partner agencies.

In order to ensure that the plans were realised and to ensure that Board reports and decision were able to go through the required governance processes, it was proposed that a Forward Plan be established.

The report also set out the 2013/14 priorities for the Board.

The report would be submitted to the Safeguarding Adults Board for final comment and then to the Health and Wellbeing Board for approval.

Discussion ensued on the report with the following comments made/clarified:-

·           The Safeguarding Adults Charter would ensure that those individuals wishing not to go through the usual process, would still have the assurance of being safe/feeling safe

·           Needed to take account of an individual’s needs and made safe in a way that met their needs

Resolved:-  That the report be noted.