Agenda item

To consider a report by the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) Co-ordinator (copy attached) on the follow up to the annual performance report for Adult Protection presented to Partnership Scrutiny in November, 2015.

                                                                                      10.25 a.m. – 11.05 a.m.

A copy of a report by the POVA Co-ordinator (PC) had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Head of Community Support Services (HCSS) introduced the report and advised that the report was presented to Members, at their request, as a follow-up to the annual report for 2014/15 which the Committee had considered in November, 2015, as Members wanted assurances around the management of risk to individuals who had been identified at risk of abuse.  He advised that:-

·                     across Denbighshire there were circa 1,300 care home beds;

·                     73 referrals of alleged abuse had been brought to a conclusion in 2014/15; 56 of these referrals alleged that the abuse had been committed within either a care or residential home or in the individual’s own home, of which 42 were alleged to have taken place within a residential or nursing home;

·                     details of how the risk was managed for the individuals concerned were listed in the report;

·                     criminal prosecutions in these types of cases were rare, there had only been one during 2014/15 – in some cases the individual concerned or their family did not wish to press charges once the risk had been removed;

·                     whilst the local authority dealt with Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) referrals, not all  allegations received concerned care staff. A case study included in the report highlighted how one referral investigated was actually against a member of staff from the Health Service, other allegations were against family members or friends;

Responding to members’ questions the Head of Community Support Services and the Service Manager:  Specialist Services confirmed that:-

·                     the Health Service was responsible for providing pressure mattresses, and it was increasing the number of mattresses it ordered;

·                     care home owners were, on the whole, co-operative with POVA referral inquiries and generally complied with any associated recommendations, because if their home was noted as under ‘escalating concerns’ it damaged their business;

·                         at any one time there was usually a couple of care home in the county under ‘escalating concerns’.  The Council would not refer potential new residents to those homes whilst they were under ‘escalating concerns’;

·                     allegations of a sexual nature were quite difficult to investigate, they could also range from very minor allegations to very serious ones;

·                     all allegations should be reported to the Council, even if the individual did not want to proceed with the investigation, as this would help the Council identify areas of concern or patterns of behaviour before they escalated;

·                     if alleged abuse took place within a family setting, whilst Social Services would always inform the Police it would be up to the individual, if he/she had the mental capacity, or family members otherwise to agree whether to proceed with a criminal investigation and/or press charges.  In such cases the Social Services Department would always make arrangements to keep the vulnerable person safe from harm’s way;

·                     recruitment of suitably qualified nurses was proving to be a particular problem for health services, including nursing home owners, at present;

·                     the publication of the report following the national review of domiciliary care was imminent.  This report was likely to highlight the problems encountered with 15 minute care calls.

Having regard to the fact that the county and the country had an ageing demographic profile, members felt that more work was required to highlight to residents the importance of preparing for their future needs i.e. drawing up Power of Attorney documents (POA), will writing etc.

Members thanked the officers for a very informative report and requested that the level of detail contained within the report be included as an appendix to future POVA Annual Reports.  It was then:-

RESOLVED – that subject to the above observations the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee:-

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

(b)          agree that future annual reports on Adult Protection in Denbighshire include case studies and the detailed data analysis, as included in the current report, as an appendix to the report.