Welcome to this short podcast on behalf of the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board, on multi-agency working, what it is and why it is important. I will also share some top tips for multi-agency meetings and working, what you can do if you're unhappy with a decision by another agency and, advice on Board meetings and protocols to support multi-agency working. So, firstly, what is multi-agency working and why is it important?
The Social Care Institute for Excellence defines multi-agency working as “providing a seamless response to individuals with multiple and complex needs. This could be as part of a multidisciplinary team or on an ad-hoc basis.” In West Sussex, agencies should work together in partnership, with a shared commitment to working together to support Adults experiencing risk so, your safeguarding practice needs to draw on all the relevant information and support available by others.
Effective multi-agency working, and communication is important for several reasons. These include supporting a high standard of services, an enhanced quality of support and, improved outcomes for the Adult. This then leads to the Adult to likely feel better supported which in turn, enables improving engagement and, also, satisfaction with the support provided. In addition, it also lessens individual pressures on workers and agencies, by sharing the workload and responsibilities. Other benefits include a positive impact on working relationships and a way in which best practice and experience can be shared, providing greater learning opportunities.
Multi-agency working and communication is a reoccurring theme in Safeguarding Adults Review Referrals, our audits and, frequently features in our Safeguarding Adults Reviews, also known as SARs. In the learning briefing accompanying this podcast we have provided examples of two of our SARs where this has been a prominent theme; Jean Willis’ SAR and our Kingswood Organisational Learning Review.
Jean Willis’ SAR found that there were missed opportunities for the coordination of care and assessment, a lack of multi-agency approaches to care and, a lack of coordinated response to her deteriorating health.
Our Kingswood Organisational Learning Review found a need for: clear multi-agency understanding of service requirements, safeguarding, quality and health and safety concerns, a clear understanding of actions required, when and by whom when there are persistent concerns about services and, the need to work together to use legal powers and responsibilities to improve quality and safeguarding.
So, now it’s clear how important multi-agency working and communication is, let’s move on to what you do to improve this?
Your own agency may have advice and guidance on the best way for you to work with and communicate with others, however, we have provided seven top tips that can be used by workers in all agencies.
The first, is ask yourself questions about what you want to achieve, such as:
- how are we going to best work together and, do we need a formal meeting or process?
- is there anyone else that needs to be involved? Do all those involved need to be involved and, are they adding value to the work needed
- have we thought about and set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound, also known as SMART, goals?
The second, is to talk to the Adult, their family and, or their representatives. It is important to ask them what they want, who matters to them most and, what existing support they have.
The third, is to develop strong working relationships, trust and shared ownership. You can do this by being clear about responsibilities and expectations from the start; this may need a formal meeting to agree these. Understanding and respect of each other’s roles and responsibilities reduces tension and misunderstandings. It is important to remember, of course, that as workers may change, recording of discussions and decisions is vital.
The fourth, is to recognise differing systems and processes. Agencies differ in how they record information, with other agencies not being able to access these records. Therefore, it may be important to consider other forms of communication for example telephone calls and in person meetings.
The fifth, is sharing information as this is critical in making fully informed decisions about what action is best to take and how. You can use our Sussex Information Sharing Guide and Protocol and accompanying learning briefing detailing how information should be shared. SCIE also have useful resources on their website.
The sixth, is decide who will review interventions. It is important that any decisions and plans are reviewed before closing involvement with the Adult. A Risk Assessment may also be required. To find out more about Risk Assessment, we have a Risk Assessment Learning Briefing and Podcast available on our website.
The seventh and final tip, is to review systems and processes. You should ask yourself what you need to KEEP, STOP and START doing, in order to improve systems and process.
So, next is what you can do if you are unhappy about a decision?
You can use our Sussex Safeguarding Escalation and Resolution Protocol; this supports consistent and timely decision-making where there may be disagreements or issues arising between professionals and agencies in relation to adult safeguarding. The protocol includes guidance in relation to Mental Capacity issues and safeguarding and, has a streamlined escalation process that explicitly ensures relevant safeguarding leads are consulted at an appropriate point. The links to this protocol can be found on our website and in the learning briefing accompanying this podcast.
So finally, you need to be aware of what Board meetings and protocols are there to support multi-agency working?
There is:
- Firstly, the Multi-Agency procedures to support adults who self-neglect. This procedure contains an overview of the multi-agency self-neglect process.
And secondly, three Subgroups of the Board:
- The first is our Multi-Agency Risk Management Subgroup which ensures multi-agency communication and information sharing takes place on a regular basis to support professionals and their managers in managing the most challenging and concerning cases.
- The second is our Sussex Adult Death Protocol which tells you the process you need to follow to respond to an unexpected adult death where there is a suspicion/it is known, that abuse or neglect by a third party directly contributed to the death. It brings together agencies at the earliest opportunity, ensures effective collaborative working, rapid risk assessment and information sharing to make sure appropriate action is taken.
- And the third is our Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Information Subgroup seeks to improve the safety of services through early information sharing and intervention and, maintains a single picture of the quality and safety of the local care market.
The links to information about the self-neglect procedure and Subgroups can be found on our website and, in the learning briefing accompanying this podcast.
Thank you for your time to listen to this podcast and, we appreciate your support to make a real difference to the Adults we are supporting in West Sussex.