Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Adult Social Care & Public Health

Forward Plan Ref: 2019/098

Contact: Steven Turner, OSAB Business Manager Tel: (01865) 328993

Report by Deputy Director – Adult Social Care (CA10).

The OSAB is required to report annually on the work of the Board and of its partners, assessing the position of the partnerships in relation to the safeguarding adults at risk within Oxfordshire.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to

(a)          note that the adult safeguarding partnership is working across Oxfordshire and that work undertaken by the Board and its partners has resulted in a significant decrease in safeguarding concerns being referred into the Local Authority, building on the reduction on concerns started last year; and

(b)          note the priorities for 2019/20.

The Oxfordshire Safeguarding Adults board (OSAB) is required to report annually on the work of the Board and of its partners, assessing the position of the partnerships in relation to the safeguarding adults at risk within Oxfordshire. Cabinet considered the annual report.

Dr Sue Ross, Independent Chair of the OASB, attended for this item.

Councillor Brighouse, Chairman of Performance Scrutiny Committee thanked Dr Ross and officers for attending the Performance Scrutiny Committee where the report had been considered. The Committee had welcomed the report and had discussed a range of issues. It would be helpful to see much more analysis and data on alerts. The Committee had discussed concerns around bed sores and sepsis and had been reassured that a group was looking at tissue viability. The Committee had also discussed issues around isolation and how this issue was to be handled as part of the healthy place shaping agenda. She welcomed that Cabinet Members attended Performance Scrutiny Committee as it was good to have them listening to the debate as it took place as it made it easier to relate the Committee’s views.

Councillor Sobia Afridi, Shadow Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care welcomed the inclusion of the case studies as it was good to hear the voice of the families. Councillor Afridi was pleased to see the work being done on the transition from child to adult and that work was continuing on multi-agency working. She suggested that in monitoring key issues thought be given to breaking it down by women and black and minority ethnic groups (BAME). It would also be useful if when looking at the table on page 18 there was information on any different type of support available for the BAME community. On outcomes (page 19) Councillor Afridi suggested that it would be helpful in future to see more information on timescales. Karen Fuller, Deputy Director, Adult Social Care replied that previously the annual report had contained much more data. The case studies had been included to bring the report to life with real life examples.

Councillor Debbie McIlveen, local councillor for Leys, welcomed the report. She referred to the outcome of enquiry process and noted that where a risk was identified it was removed in 91% of cases. She queried what happened in the remaining 9% of cases. Councillor McIlveen highlighted community engagement. As a councillor she dealt with a number of casework issues that were then resolved. Some cases were serious, and she queried whether such cases were part of the figures. She suggested that it would be helpful to meet to discuss the issue of community engagement. Responding Dr Ross stated that as the incoming Chair she was anxious to widen their engagement. The figures were the numbers becoming safeguarding referrals rather than the broad picture of safeguarding. It was an issue to be explored during the National Safeguarding week. Dr Ross was conscious that the Board’s responsibility was wider than for the local authority alone. Referring to risk Karen Fuller added that the Performance, Information & Quality Assurance (PIQA) Subgroup had looked at those cases remaining.

Dr Ross introduced the contents of the report detailing the key tasks for the OASB, outlining the key issues and setting out the Board structure and sub-groups. Ms Fuller added that considerable work had been done on the joint board with OCSB and that the transition between child and adult was important. Ms Fuller highlighted the benefit of the adult consultation line that provided a lot of low-level information. She further highlighted the work with District Councils, noting that there was a housing representative on the OASB.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of the Council, stressed the importance of the two Boards working together to address the transition period working with whole families. Good housing with security of tenure was a key issue.

Councillor Lawrie Stratford, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care welcomed the report and in particular the inclusion of the case studies. It was a good report drawing attention to topics which in the past would not have been recognised such as modern slavery and female genital mutilation. National campaigns had helped.

Dr Ross replied that safeguarding was not a helpful term and it was sometime difficult to be clear what it meant. The case studies made it real. The volume of issues was huge and increasing and the report was intended to be used to help the Board talk about what it was doing. Ms Fuller added that discussions showed the importance of the sub groups. The video box enabled the work across the Partnership to be brought to life.

RESOLVED:             to

(a)          note that the adult safeguarding partnership is working across Oxfordshire and that work undertaken by the Board and its partners has resulted in a significant decrease in safeguarding concerns being referred into the Local Authority, building on the reduction on concerns started last year; and

(b)          note the priorities for 2019/20.