Agenda item

To receive the Annual Adult Safeguarding Report.

Councillor Edward Smith (Chair) invited Councillor Alev Cazimoglu (Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care) to introduce the Adult Safeguarding Annual Report Priorities to the Panel.

NOTED

1.            Councillor Cazimoglu expressed her thanks to the Board Members and Officers for their significant and valuable work during a very difficult year with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additional work had been undertaken to deal with the pressures experienced. Sharon Burgess (Head of Service – Safeguarding Adults, Complaints and Quality Assurance) and Bharat Ayer (Safeguarding Service Manager (Adults and Children’s) Partnerships) were invited to present the report to the Panel.

2.            That this was a Partnership report that was being presented to the Scrutiny Panel as part of a consultation with partners for comments on the 2021/22 priorities. The priorities would then be presented to the Safeguarding Adults Board and Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Executive meeting for agreement and sign-off.

3.            The summary of the key issues or achievements of the year, as set out in the report, including:

·         Safeguarding response during the pandemic across the Partnership including: regular contact with care homes; welfare calls by quality checkers; analysis of concerns during lockdown; contributing to London-wide work; additional Board meeting held; new Safeguarding Enfield website launched; training provided; safeguarding adults review learning themes developed.

4.            The important areas of work for 2021/22 included: detailed data analysis work in Enfield and regionally to better understand the impact of the pandemic and trends around abuse; the introduction of a network of safeguarding champions through the Community Awareness Raising group; a pilot project extended to include 250 devices (Amazon Echo Shows) to connect service users with their family and friends.

5.            Officers thanked the Panel for the opportunity to outline and highlight to Members the important Adult Safeguarding work that continued to be undertaken and the key areas of focus for the coming year. Members were invited to raise any comments and questions in response.

6.            In response to a question raised, Members were advised of the work that was being undertaken and developed to support victims of domestic violence in the Borough which included working with voluntary agencies. Further detailed information would be circulated to the Panel Members.

7.            Members were advised of the safeguarding work which had been and continued to be carried out following concerns raised over cases of “do not resuscitate” reports. Work had been carried out with partners and assurances provided with testing undertaken with care homes and a current community project taking place.

8.            Members were advised that the full and detailed Safeguarding Enfield Annual report was presented to Members each year in June/July. The Annual report provided information including trends and comparisons and the level and impact of work undertaken. The report presented to the Panel at this stage was providing an opportunity for Scrutiny to comment and provide feedback on the proposed priorities for 2021/22. Members’ views could then be reflected in the report going forward.

9.            In conclusion, the Panel noted the report and priorities for 2021/22 and expressed their appreciation of this important area of work and, looked forward to receiving the full and detailed Annual report in due course.