Agenda item

To consider a report by the Protection of Vulnerable Adults Co-ordinator and the Annual Report on Adult Protection in Denbighshire 1st April 2013 – 31st March 2014 (copy enclosed) which outlines the impact of safeguarding arrangements and seeks the Committee to review progress in this key area of work and acknowledge its importance.

10:15am – 11am

The Lead Member for Social Care and Children’s Services introduced the Annual Report on Adult Protection in Denbighshire for the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 (previously circulated)

The Committee was advised that the introduction of the Social Services and Well-being Act 2014 made adult safeguarding a statutory requirement for the first time. The adult safeguarding process would be similar to the one followed for children. There was a new process regarding serious case reviews being implemented, with final guidance on adult practices reviews still awaited.

Attention was drawn to the increased number of adult protection referrals in the county (page 2) and clarification that this did not necessarily equate to an increase in the number of incidents but possibly the result of a heightened awareness of the referral process, existence and accessibility.

The Committee heard that the number of POVA referrals and the profile of the alleged victims were similar in Denbighshire to that of both Flintshire and Wrexham (mainly elderly women).  Nationally this placed Denbighshire mid-table on Welsh Government (WG) statistics.

With regard to complaints, it was emphasised that an 'inconclusive' outcome did not mean that no action would be taken.  Any potential gaps or shortcomings identified during the investigation process would be addressed as a matter of course.  The investigation outcome from a POVA referral is based on ‘the balance of probabilities’ that a violation had taken place, this could be extremely difficult in cases where there were no witnesses and it was one person’s word against another. There were occasions however when medical evidence would tip the balance.

POVA was a process under which various agencies gathered evidence under thorough investigation with a view to determining whether any abuse had taken place.  The initial decision made would be whether the vulnerable person was at risk of immediate harm? If they were they would be moved to a place of safety before any of the detailed investigation into the alleged violations took place.

It was explained to the Committee that where figures showed a high percentages of 'residents' were affected or a high percentage of staff were the alleged perpetrators - this more often than not was a large establishment where an anonymous complaint had been made against an un-named member of staff, this meant that all residents were classed as affected and all staff classed as alleged perpetrators - this potentially skewed the figures.  Consequently members requested that a footnote to this effect be included in future annual reports.

A Supreme Court Judgement relating to the test for 'deprivation of liberty' for the purpose of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights had resulted in a significant increase in the number of review applications both nationally and locally. The protracted assessment process for deprivation of liberty reviews and cost involved with each individual review had placed increased pressures on the Social Services' Department's staff and its budget.  To date 11 best interest assessors had been trained to increase the pool of staff available to undertake work relating to these reviews.  However, this was still not sufficient to deal with the estimated increase in review requests. It was also identified that there was a need to increase capacity within current 'Localities' staff to deal with POVA enquiries, therefore discussions would commence with an external trainer early in the new year to see how this could be facilitated.

It was confirmed that no posts had been lost as part of the budget setting process for 2015/16, and it was anticipated that the administration review which was currently underway would help strengthen the Service to deal with the increase in the number of referrals year on year and with the additional work involved as a result of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Deprivation of Liberty test

Following an in-depth discussion the Committee:

RESOLVED :

(i) subject to the above observations, to receive the report and acknowledge the important nature of a corporate approach to the Protection of Vulnerable Adults and the responsibility of the Council to view this as a key priority area and place it alongside the commitment and significance given by Denbighshire to Child Protection; and

(ii)  that the Annual Report on Adult Protection in Denbighshire for the period April 2014 to March 2015 be presented to the Committee in twelve months time, and that the report include an evaluation of the resource and financial impact of the Supreme Court's Judgement on Deprivation of Liberty on the Service and its work.