Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board

Meeting held on 16 January 2013, Room 300, Civic Centre

Summary Minutes
Please note these are not full minutes. They are intended to provide an overview of discussions and decisions. Due to the confidential nature of some of the items discussed, it is not possible to publically share full minutes.

The Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) is a multi-agency partnership to ensure that vulnerable adults in Newcastle are safeguarded and protected. The Board does this through a variety of means, including: producing policies, procedures and guidance; providing learning and development opportunities; raising awareness with professionals and the public; and learning from best practice.

Item
Winterbourne View, Final Report from Department of Health
Angela Jamson, Commissioner for Learning Disability Services (Newcastle City Council) presented on the report and associated action plan produced by the Department of Health in relation to the Winterbourne View investigation. Newcastle City Council and NHS North of Tyne will be working closely together to address the 63 actions, which are challenging and need to be completed within relatively short timescales. By June 2013, the care of all people in a learning disability or autism inpatient bed will be reviewed and a new personal care plan agreed. Further, all individuals should be receiving personalised care and support in appropriate community settings no later than 1 June 2014. The Board also considered the specific references for adult safeguarding which mainly reflected the changes highlighted in the draft Care and Support Bill. The Board agreed that Winterbourne would be a standing agenda item for the NSAB.
Partnership Agreement
Members agreed an updated Partnership Agreement. It was recognised that a further review would be needed once the Clinical Commissioning Groups were fully established and also to reflect any implications of the Care and Support Bill once it had been enacted.
Community and Voluntary Sector Update
The Board discussed community and voluntary sector representation on the NSAB following the resignation of one representative due to a change in job role. It was agreed that a new representative would be recruited with the support of Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service.
Service User Involvement
James Steward and Claire Fairbank updated members on the work to improve service user, carer and public involvement in safeguarding adults work. The main achievements to date have been: the wide consultation with service users, carers and public on safeguarding adults;the publication of three guides to the safeguarding adults process;the development of formal training for service users on safeguarding adults;asking service users for their expressed outcomes and whether these have been met;the variety of ways in which awareness has been raised with service users, carers and the public, including via: information stalls; attending events/meetings; leaflets; webpages; social media; and a regional radio campaign. Priorities for the next year in this area are: finalising a best practice guide into service user involvement in the safeguarding adults process;
implementing a feedback mechanism for people who have been subject to safeguarding adults procedures; increasing the number of training sessions for service users on safeguarding adults; introduce an easy-read version of the safeguarding adults agenda;
continue to work alongside regional partners to share best practice and resources in relation to service user involvement and communication activities. Some examples of this work can be found on the safeguarding adults webpages.
Northumbria Police – Safeguarding Adults Arrangements
DCI Max Black provided a presentation on the structures and procedures Northumbria Police have in place to support safeguarding adults work in Newcastle. Safeguarding adults work is dealt with by the Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP) Unit, within which there are two teams dedicated to the Newcastle area. Officers within the PVP receive all concerns about vulnerable adults made by uniform officers. The Police have been particularly focussed on anti-social behaviour and hate crime and it’s impact on vulnerable adults over the last few years. This has included the establishment of Safe Reporting Centres (in consultation with people with a learning disability) where people can go and report crime (in particular hate crime) without having to go to a Police Station for example. The PVP is one of the only growth areas within the Police and increased training has seen an increased reporting of safeguarding adults alerts.
Learning and Development Committee
The Learning and Development Committee were having their annual half-day planning session next week to agree their work plan priorities for the coming year. Gary Daglish, Chair, advised the NSAB that he would be retiring in March 2013 and so future chairing arrangements were being addressed.
Improving Practice Committee
Clare Abley, Chair, presented the Committee’s updated Terms of Reference and Work Plan for 2013-2014. These were agreed by the NSAB. Clare felt that the Committee could be considering more cases where good or bad practice had been highlighted to improve and share learning. Board members agreed to promote this within their organisations and it was confirmed this would be highlighted on up-and-coming Chairs training. It was highlighted membership of the Dignity Network had been reducing over time which was concerning. It was hoped that a focus on faith and spiritual needs would help to increase engagement.
Date of next meeting:
The next meeting of the Board is on the 13 March 2013.

For more information about Safeguarding Adults, and the work of the Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board, please visit:

For advice or guidance on safeguarding adults, please contact the Safeguarding Adults Unit: 0191 278 8156

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Service/Directorate / Document title / Issued by / Classification
NSAB / Summary Minutes (Draft) 16.01.2013 / Dr Sue Ross / Unclassified