Safeguarding learning faculty

Report of first event held on Monday 22nd June 2-4.30pm

Introduction

This is an account of the first faculty meeting held by the Safeguarding Adults and Childrens Boards and the community safety partnership. This event is the first of a planned series of regular events and is designed to ensure that training by all three boards is consistent with the needs of practitioners and that practitioners influence training content and design.

Event Aim

To engage practitioners in multi-agency training and to identify training needs.

Event Objectives

At the end of the event, practitioners will have gained;

•An understanding of recent developments in safeguarding children, safeguarding adults and domestic abuse.

•Provided their views and reflections on practitioners multi-agency safeguarding learning experience, including their suggestions on learning methods.

•Considered the benefits of developing a multi-agency learning “faculty”.

Attendance

The event attracted partners from all statutory agencies. A full attendance list is provided at appendix A.

What happened at the event?

Presentations on current safeguarding training issues both locally and nationally, (such as the recent safeguarding training review) were provided by Joan McHugh, Caroline Murray & Denise Lewis followed by structured group exercises to establish practitioners views on what they had heard. Their views are summarised below.

Outcome

A summary of the discussions held and how the boards intend to act on faculty views is provided below. Feedback indicates that practitioners found the experience valuable. There were some additional benefits as practitioners’ shared their in-house training plans and some have agreed to engage partners in this, providing additional learning benefits. The key outcome has been the gathering of sufficient evidence to inform training plans interms of both content and design.

Next steps

Formal terms of reference will be agreed.

Future faculty meetings are planned for 4th November 2015 and 24th February 2016.

Partners are asked to encourage practitioners to attend: The faculty represented a broad range of agencies however more work will be done to encourage attendance by:

  • Childrens Services Social workers
  • Early Help Services- work has begun on engaging early help services through the design of Module 1 and that we anticipate future engagement in the faculty.
  • Education- North Solihull Schools were represented well, but work us underway to ensure representation from all of the collaboratives
  • Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
  • Solihull Community Housing
  • Community Rehabilitation Company
  • Community and Voluntary Sector
  • National Probation Service
  • PPU
  • Ambulance Service
  • Age UK
  • Healthwatch
  • SATA
  • Solihull Carer’s Centre
  • Coventry & Warwickshire NHS PT

A copy of the LSCB training review and strategy and SSAB training strategy will be delivered to all those attending.

The question: From what you have heard, list the areas you consider positive and list the areas you consider challenging:

You said;
Positive / Challenges
Greater flexibility / Less resources
Shorter training sessions / Community and vol sector will struggle
Greater clarity on multi-agency training / Scrutiny of single agency training
Good to have update and raise awareness / Difficult to predict number of people needing training
Raise awareness of resources and website / Multi-agency training needs the right mix of different agencies
Age change re DV now known / Barriers to sharing information –“subjective” confidentiality
Care act update- self neglect- recognising vulnerability of adults more / Where do we draw the line in relation to how far to delve when DV is disclosed by 16-18 yr old to ensure does not impact on criminal investigation & potential court case
Guidance in how we have difficult conversations / More awareness and training for schools to up skill on the new adults safeguarding care act as many parents/ carers maybe affected
Can now do a “safeguarding plan” / Foundation training needed
Inclusion of coercion in DV definition – often most powerful form of abuse / More forms to fill in (DVRIM) – how does this fit with our processes and how do we ensure we are all doing things the same way?
Better customer service / Knowing how to ask the right question
Joint training under 16’s and over as many have foot in both camps / Difficulties addressing DV in elderly population i.e. both have fluctuating capacity
Prioritising risk / Getting risk assessment right- very hard i.e. female chooses to be in DV relationship but then develops dementia
Modular training meeting service need not LA need / Shift to person focus will be hard
Less repetitive training in smaller chunks / Separating multi-agency and single agency training
Limited multi-agency modules in order to be relevant

The question: What are your learning needs and how would you like to learn?

You said;
Need / How
Opportunities for discussion around serious case reviews / Less resources
Sharing information between agencies / More networking/ forums/ support from managers
How to improve multi-agency working / Half day training and half day reflective time
Understanding roles and responsibilities re safeguarding / Full day training – volume can be too much
Cyber bullying / Evenings are hard for some people
Prevent training / Different options for different subjects
MARAC referrals- awareness for multi-agency referral process / e-learning OK but only in a group and not often set up for this (i.e. gives certificate to person completing)
Time to implement training when return to work / One topic learning- not loads of info at once
Plenty of notice for training dates / Conferences- single focus
Confidence in escalation procedures / Reminders when training due for refreshment
General safeguarding processes and what feedback to expect – information sharing / Not death by power point
Cross boarder training / Guest/ real life speakers- how did it feel?
Early help assessments and referrals pre-school / Use genuine local case studies
Thresholds for training to be clear- i.e. some courses previous advertised for managers only / e-learning- there is a place for this but no dialogue
Review and evaluate weeks after training not on the day- to include how impacts on practice / On-line forum for specific topic – as well as training not instead
Better boundaries i.e. issues of confidentiality / More reflective practice – action learning set style
Think family/ early help emphasis / e-learning not practical for all agencies- computer access
Self-neglect- mental health/ dementia / Experiential learning- shared experiences – case studies – helps with “subjective” view of safeguarding
How to assess DV and what to do if no evidence and person has consent- what questions to ask / Reading/ discussion – pre-training reading that can then be discussed in a forum with experts
What’s a safeguarding concern and what’s a cultural norm / Networking
Better understanding of national priorities – we know our own, but do we fully understand the national picture? i.e. FGM / Group supervision
Advertise courses more widely – single agencies could offer places to other agencies / Pre-learning- small You Tube clip
Skill sharing / e-learning- could be tick box, not reflective, hard to keep updated, lose out on relationships across agencies; could be good basic induction/ info giving sessions; could be pre-based learning
Webinars- good, interactive, could watch as a group, ask questions
Case study based- practical, understanding each other’s roles& responsibilities, getting to know each other.
Briefing papers etc.

We will therefore:

Design training to incorporate a wide range of methods; including e-learning, pre-reading, video clips as well as classroom based courses that are ½ days, full days and 2 days and include a range of opportunities for multi-agency learning and discussion

We will look at different ways to pass on information- i.e. a new LSCB website, newsletters etc.

We will recognise that adult learners can take responsibility for their own learning and look at ways to support and enable this.

We will look at methods to keep people up-to-date with information from both the adult and children board together

We are exploring a range of ways to ensure the voice of children, parents and adults is heard in all of our training.

Attendance list

DELEGATE / ORGANISATION / Email
Tracey Arms / Broadening Choices for Older People /
Luisa Blackwell / Solihull CCG /
Phillipa Brookes / Smithswood Sports College /
Sarah Clarke / St John The Baptist School /
Tracey Cornish / Windy Arbor School
Linda Disu-Williams / SMBC - Adult Social Care /
Wendy Hillier / SMBC - Early Years and Childcare Service /
Silbern Humphry / SMBC - MH Social Work Team (Adult Social Care) /
Frances Loader / SMBC - Adult Social Care /
Emma Kemp / SMBC - Adult Social Care /
Rita Rogers / SMBC - Adult Social Care /
Dawn Russell / Grace Academy /
Deb Jones / Solo /
Sharon Roadknight / BSMHFT adult CMHT /
Michelle Beddow / SMBC
Andrea Simonds / WMFS /
Tim Evans / WMP
Anne Byrne / CFSW Valley School /
Lynne Nash / St Anne’s /
Bernice Linguard / SMBC
Deborah Hadwin / SMBC /
Margaret Harrison / SFCS- education
Bev Petch / SMBC /
DC9945 Georgie Grey / WMP /
Laura Capper / BSMHFT /
Joanna Murphy / SMBC /
Mary Caraghen / SMBC