This chapter provides information for multi-agency practitioners about the roles and responsibilities of the Leicester Safeguarding Adults Board (LSAB) and Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adults Board (LRSAB) , which are the local strategic decision-making bodies for all matters relating to adults with needs for care and support who are experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect

RELEVANT CHAPTERS

Information Sharing

1. Introduction

Under the Care Act 2014, a local authority must establish a Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB). The main objective of a SAB is to assure itself that local safeguarding arrangements and partners act to help and protect adults who:

  • have needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs);
  • are experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect;
  • as a result of those care and support needs are unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect.

There are three statutory members: the local authority, the integrated care board (ICB), and the police. Each SAB has a strategic role that is greater than the sum of the operational duties of the core partners. It oversees and leads adult safeguarding across the locality and will be interested in a range of matters that contribute to the prevention of abuse and neglect. These include the safety of patients in local health services, and the quality of local care and support services.

It is important that SAB partners feel able to challenge each other and other organisations where they believe that their actions or inactions are increasing the risk of abuse or neglect. This includes commissioners, as well as providers of services.

SABs can be important sources of advice and assistance, for example in helping others improve their safeguarding mechanisms. It is important that SABs have effective links with other key partnerships in their locality and that they share relevant information and work plans.

2. Leicester Safeguarding Adult Board and Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adults Board Websites

Leicester SAB website

Leicestershire and Rutland SAB website

3. Core Duties

Leicester SAB Annual Reports and Plans

Leicestershire and Rutland SAB Annual Reports and Plans

A SAB has three core duties:

3.1 SAB strategic plans

Each SAB must publish a strategic plan for each financial year.

When it is preparing the plan, the SAB must consult the local Healthwatch and involve the local community. The plan should be evidence based and make use of all available information from partners.

3.2 SAB annual reports

After the end of each financial year, each SAB must publish an annual report that clearly states what both the SAB and its members have done to carry out and deliver the objectives and other content of its strategic plan.

Specifically, the annual report must provide information about any Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) that the SAB has arranged which are ongoing or have reported in the year (regardless whether they commenced in that year). The report must state what the SAB has done to act on the findings of completed SARs or, where it has decided not to act on a finding, why not.

The annual report must set out how the SAB is monitoring progress against its policies and intentions to deliver its strategic plan. The SAB should consider the following in coming to its conclusions:

  • evidence of community awareness of adult abuse and neglect and how to respond;
  • analysis of safeguarding data to better understand the reasons that lie behind local data returns and use the information to improve the strategic plan and operational arrangements;
  • what adults who have experienced the process say and the extent to which the outcomes they wanted (their wishes) have been realised;
  • what front line practitioners say about outcomes for adults and about their ability to work in a personalised way with those adults;
  • better reporting of abuse and neglect;
  • evidence of success of strategies to prevent abuse or neglect;
  • feedback from local Healthwatch, adults who use care and support services and carers, community groups, advocates, service providers and other partners;
  • how successful adult safeguarding is at linking with other parts of the system, for example children’s safeguarding (see Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Board  and Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Children Partnership , domestic abuse, community safety);
  • the impact of training carried out in this area and analysis of future need; and
  • how well agencies are cooperating and collaborating.

The annual report should be a document that can be read and understood by anyone, which may include an easy read version. It is likely the SAB will publish the report via its website.

The SAB must send a copy of its report to:

  • the Chief Executive and leader of the local authority;
  • the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable;
  • the local Healthwatch; and
  • the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

It is expected that the above organisations will fully consider the contents of the report and how they can improve their contributions to both safeguarding throughout their own organisation and to the joint work of the Board.

3.4 Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs)

See also Safeguarding Adults Reviews

Each SAB must arrange a Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) when an adult in its area with needs for care and support dies as a result of abuse or neglect, whether known or suspected, and there is concern that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect the adult.

The SAB must also arrange a SAR if an adult in its area has not died, but the SAB knows or suspects that the adult has experienced serious abuse or neglect. In the context of SARs, something can be considered serious abuse or neglect where:

  • the individual would have been likely to have died but for an intervention, or;
  • has suffered permanent harm or;
  • has reduced capacity or quality of life (whether because of physical or psychological effects) as a result of the abuse or neglect.

The SAB is free to arrange for a SAR in any other situations involving an adult in its area with needs for care and support.

The adult who is the subject of any SAR need not have been in receipt of care and support services for the SAB to arrange a review in relation to them.

4. Membership

The following organisations must be represented on each Board:

  • the local authority which set it up,
  • the integrated care board/s in the local authority’s area; and
  • the chief officer of police in the local authority’s area.

Each SAB may also include other organisations and individuals it considers appropriate. Examples include:

  • ambulance and fire services;
  • local Healthwatch;
  • Care Quality Commission;
  • members of user, advocacy and carer groups;
  • representatives of providers of health services;
  • representatives of probation and prison services

4.1 Related partnerships

There may also be effective links that can be made with related partnerships to maximise impact and minimise duplication and which would reflect the reality and interconnectivities of local partnerships. There are strong synergies between the work of many of these bodies, particularly when looking at the broader family agenda as well as opportunities for efficiencies in taking forward work.

Partnerships may include the:

  • community safety partnership;
  • local safeguarding children partnership;
  • health and wellbeing board;
  • quality surveillance group;
  • integrated care board; and
  • health overview and scrutiny committee.

5. Supply of Information

See also Information Sharing

In order to carry out its functions, the SAB will need access to information that a wide number of people or other agencies may hold. Some of these may be SAB members, such as the NHS and the police. Others will not be, such as private health and care providers or housing providers / housing support providers or education providers.

In the past, there have been instances where the withholding of information has prevented agencies being fully able to understand what ‘went wrong’ and so has hindered them identifying, to the best of their ability, the lessons to be applied to prevent or reduce the risks of such cases reoccurring. If someone knows that abuse or neglect is happening they must act upon that knowledge, not wait to be asked for information.

A SAB may request a person to supply information to it or to another person. The person who receives the request must provide the information provided to the SAB if:

  • the request is made in order to enable or assist the SAB to do its job;
  • the request is made of a person who is likely to have relevant information and then either:
    1. the information requested relates to the person to whom the request is made and their functions or activities or;
    2. the information requested has already been supplied to another person subject to a SAB request for information.

6. Training

Leicester Safeguarding Adults Board Training

Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adults Learning, Development and Training

Whilst it is the responsibility of partner organisations to ensure their own staff are appropriately trained in matters of adult safeguarding, it is the responsibility of the SAB to receive assurance from organisations that they know what levels of training are expected for their staff, have audited their needs, and that they are delivering the right training. In addition, each SAB should promote multi-agency training within the partnership, promote learning from Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs), and consider specialist multi-agency training that may be required across the partnership relating to the SAB’s priorities.