Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board

Windsor and Maidenhead Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board 2011

The Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board was set up in April 2009. Since then it has rolled out its first year work plan 2009/10 via its subgroups: Quality Assurance, Prevention, Training and Workforce Development (across East Berks).

RBWM, Independent Chair Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board

Sue Bestjan has been the Independent Chair of the Windsor and Maidenhead Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board since the Board was created in 2009.

Sue has a professional background in teaching and social work with a post-graduate diploma in managing health and social care.

Sue has 30 years experience of working in social care, including working in children's homes, social work, community care planning and as a member of a council senior management team.

More recently she has assessed the performance of the council social care provision, while working for the Commission for Social Care Inspection (now the Care Quality Commission CQC).

Sue is an Associate with the Department of Health, working with senior partners to drive up performance of social care and improving systems to protect adults at risk of harm.

Sue is passionate about the care of vulnerable people and firmly believes that agencies should work together with service users to secure good outcomes.

During 2009/10 the priority for the Windsor and Maidenhead Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board has involved creating an overarching strategic framework to ensure effective local governance and a robust business process for safeguarding adults.

The Board is now in its third year of life during 2011 and its priority now is to ensure the strategic framework for safeguarding adults set in place is monitored and continues to achieve its aim.

Role and Function of the Board

• Identify strategic aims for multi-agency Safeguarding work
• Agree and monitor the Safeguarding Partnership business plan
• Agree and commit resources (including funding) from partners to support safeguarding work
• Ensure links are made with East Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Strategic Leads and Chairs group, regional and national organisations
• Commission serious case reviews and ensure that lessons learnt are acted upon
• Audit and evaluate the impact and quality of safeguarding work by partner agencies
• Publish an annual safeguarding adults partnership report
• Commission policy and procedural guidance that will safeguard and promote the safety and well being of adults at risk of abuse
• To regularly review the role of the Safeguarding Partnership and recommend any changes to the partner agencies.

The key aims of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board are to ensure:

• that whenever abuse or neglect is suspected or reported, there is an effective, consistent, and co-ordinated response, including the use of legal powers, where appropriate, to protect individuals from perpetrators
• that service users feel confident that concerns raised will be acted on
• positive safeguarding outcomes for service users with short and long term support to meet individual need as appropriate
• that partner agencies have preventative measures in place to lessen the likelihood to abuse occurring
• that services to be commissioned have adequate safeguarding arrangements
• increased awareness of safeguarding issues on the part if:
  
  • service users carers
  • voluntary and paid workers
  • the public
• relevant staff in all sectors have an understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures and their implementation, and safe recruitment practice
• effective interagency arrangements for information sharing
• that all processes in adult safeguarding are quality assured
• that learning from local and national good practice, including lessons learned from enquiries, is embedded in service improvements
• the integration of safeguarding in a range of local strategies eg. health and well being, crime and disorder and domestic abuse

The Windsor and Maidenhead Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board have representative membership from across a wide representation of partners, including the Police, the local NHS Acute Trust, East Berks Primary Care Trust and the Amubulance Trust. There is also representation from voluntary and independent sector and service users and carers' organisations.

Representation at Board level is at a sufficiently senior level to make the multi-agency commitments needed to meet the Safeguarding Adults Board business plan objectives. Senior Members provide linkage with relevant strategic partnerships in order to ensure that safeguarding adults is included within partners work plans.

The Head of Adult Services is the strategic lead for safeguarding on the Partnership Board. Updates of key partners safeguarding work eg NHS Acute Trust and the Ambulance Trust, are reported in to the Council members at Overview and Scrutiny Committee level, as part of ensuring robust governance and quality assurance of safeguarding is in place across the partners.

The Board is the executive with the sub group work streams being the operational arm, supporting the stratigic aims of the Board and reporting in to the executive on the prgress of work tasks.

The Board's sub groups broadly cover the following working areas:

• Prevention
• Quality Assurance
• Workforce Development and Training (East Berks wide)

Windsor and Maidenhead Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Business Plan

The Board has developed a specific business plan, to incorporate the safeguarding standards drawn up by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS). The action plan in response to the CQC Service Inspection (2009) has been implemented. These business plans are routinely monitored at the Board quarterly meetings.

The current draft business plan 2011/12 is open for consultation. Any comments please forward either by post to:

Safeguarding Adults Manager
c/o York House, Sheet Street
Windsor, Berks SL4 1DD

or email: safe@rbwm.gov.uk

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