1. Aims of Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Partnership
The aims of Plymouth Safeguarding Adult Partnership (PSAP) are:
- To promote, support and lead the work of Safeguarding Adults in Plymouth;
- To ensure that key agencies work together;
- To promote the welfare of Adults at Risk and prevent abuse, strategic planning and oversight of these arrangements;
- Commissioning Serious Case Reviews;
- Planning and delivery of multi-agency Safeguarding Adults training strategy.
2. Care Act 2014
According to the Care Act, a safeguarding adults board has three core duties:
- It must publish a strategic plan for each financial year that sets how it will meet its main objective and what the members will do to achieve this. The plan must be developed with local community involvement, and the SAB must consult the local Healthwatch organisation. The plan should be evidence based and make use of all available evidence and intelligence from partners to form and develop its plan;
- It must publish an annual report detailing what the SAB has done during the year to achieve its main objective and implement its strategic plan, and what each member has done to implement the strategy as well as detailing the findings of any Safeguarding Adults Reviews and subsequent action;
- It must conduct any Safeguarding Adults Review in accordance with Section 44 of the Act.
3. Membership of Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Partnership
Membership of PSAP comprises of:
- Independent Chair;
- Plymouth City Council Portfolio Holder for Health and Adult Social Care;
- Plymouth City Council Strategic Director for People;
- Plymouth City Council Strategic Safeguarding Lead (Adult);
- Plymouth City Council Children, Young People and Family Services;
- Plymouth City Council Service Director for Community Connections;
- NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group;
- Devon and Cornwall Police;
- Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner;
- Care Quality Commission Area Inspection Manager;
- NHS England;
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust;
- Livewell Southwest;
- Housing Associations representative;
- National Probation Service;
- Dorset, Devon and Cornwall Probation Service;
- Dept. Of Work and Pensions
4. Role of Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Partnership in Prevention
Strategies for the prevention of abuse and neglect is a core responsibility of a SAB. PSAP plays a key role in prevention of abuse of Adults at Risk. This includes:
- Robust mechanisms: ensuring that there are robust mechanisms, processes and outcomes to prevent abuse;
- Promoting awareness: promoting public, service user, family and carer awareness of Safeguarding Adults Concern and what to do if they are concerned;
- Training: ensuring that all health and social care and other appropriate staff and volunteers are receiving awareness training, and that this is updated regularly;
- Partnership: linking closely with domestic violence and Child Protection services and the Community Safety Partnership. Visit the Plymouth Safeguarding Children Partnership website for more info;
- Data monitoring: monitoring Safeguarding Adults Concern data, and setting up a monitoring sub-group;
- Data analysis: analysing data – routinely and regularly – to identify trends, Safeguarding Adults Concern ‘hot spots’ and ‘cold spots’ (that is settings where there is more or less abuse reported than is typical);
- Continual improvement: feeding back good and poor practice to promote continuous improvement, commissioning Serious Case Reviews and case reviews when this is necessary;
- It should have an overview of how this is taking place in the area and how this work ties in with, for example, the Health and Wellbeing partnership’s, Community Safety Partnership’s and CQC’s stated approach and practice.