Welcome to this short podcast on behalf of the West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board, which will give you information about the outcome of our older people case audit, which we carried out in 2023.
This audit looked at the records of ten people over the age of 65. The audit looked to evaluate and reflect on practice, learn from experience, inform multi-agency practice development, and strengthen multi-agency working.
So, firstly, I would like to explain the criteria for the audit.
For our audit, adults must have been aged 65 or older. They must have been involved in a safeguarding enquiry, which must have been closed or completed in the 12 months preceding the audit, and there must have been multi-agency involvement with the adults at the time of the enquiry. Further details about the adults such as their ages, ethnicities, gender, and support needs, can be found in the learning briefing which accompanies this podcast.
So, now I’ll share with you what our audit found in terms of areas for improvement.
There were seven areas highlighted where improvement is needed.
- The first is Making Safeguarding Personal. This includes seeking feedback about the safeguarding process from the adult after the conclusion of the safeguarding.
- The second is risk assessment. This includes arranging and holding a multi-agency meeting or communication between involved agencies to jointly assess risk and agree a safeguarding plan.
- The third is accountability. This includes ensuring that the roles of professionals involved in the enquiry were made clear to the adult and others involved in the enquiry.
- The fifth is partnership. This includes the adult being effectively supported by the partnership and all relevant others working with them.
- The sixth is protection. This includes whether the adult was supported with measures to protect them from harm and abuse, such as a clear process to identify and respond to emerging risk, consideration of mental capacity and best interest, and use of advocacy services where required.
- The seventh and final area is multi-agency working. This includes effective multi-agency working being evidenced throughout the concern and enquiry and involved agencies being informed of the outcome of the enquiry and risk management plans.
So, what else did we look at alongside this audit?
In addition to the audit, we also carried out a survey with staff to understand the issues, barriers and positive factors in supporting older people.
The top three issues identified when working with older people are:
- increased need for support,
- mental capacity,
- and self-neglect.
The top three barriers identified when working with older people are:
- operational pressures,
- lack of knowledge and/or availability of support services,
- and issues with multi-agency working and coordination of support.
The top three positive factors identified when working with older people are:
- support and guidance from colleagues,
- support and guidance from other professionals or agencies,
- and positive outcomes for adult.
In addition to the survey, we also reviewed practice themes for Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) relating to older people. There were three common themes where improvement is needed, these are: knowledge and implementation of the Mental Capacity Act, multi-agency working, including risk management, and Making Safeguarding Personal. You can read more about our SARs on the statutory publications page on our website.
So, what can we do next?
To make the findings of this audit matter and improve the experience for older adults, we have several resources to support your knowledge and practice to be current.
Firstly, please see our policy and protocols on our website which should be underpinning your practice in safeguarding older people. These include:
- the Sussex Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedures which represent the standards for good practice in adult safeguarding in Sussex.
- the Safeguarding Thresholds Guidance which provides professionals with examples of the different categories of abuse and neglect and the best course of action to take.
- the Multi-Agency Self-Neglect Procedures which contains detailed guidance on supporting those who self-neglect including information on the Mental Capacity Act.
- Multi-Agency Risk Management Protocol which gives advice on referring to MARM for cases where an adult is putting themselves or others at significant risk by refusing services, and all options have been explored and the level of risk is still high.
- the Sussex Information Sharing Protocol which sets out how information between partner agencies should be shared, and finally,
- the Sussex Safeguarding Escalation and Resolution Protocol which supports consistent and timely decision-making where there may be disagreements or issues between professionals.
In addition to these policies and protocols, on our learning and podcasts page of our website we also have a range of other learning resources which can support your practice with safeguarding older people. Relevant to this audit, this includes learning briefings and podcasts regarding:
- the Mental Capacity Act,
- self-neglect,
- multi-agency working and communication,
- risk assessment,
- Making Safeguarding Personal,
- and person-centred approaches.
This brings us to the end of our podcast. Thank you very much for your time to listen to it, and we appreciate your support to make a real difference to older adults.