Issue - meetings

18.1.     The Board considered the East Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) Annual Report 2020 – 2021.

18.2.     The Board thanked Graham Bartlett for his six years as Chair of the SAB and wished him well in his future endeavours. The Board welcomed Deborah Stuart-Angus as the next Chair of the SAB.

18.3.     The Board asked whether the issue of Kendal Court had been looked at by the SAB.

18.4.     Graham Bartlett said that the SAB has been aware of the issues in Kendal Court for as long as East Sussex County Council has been aware and has been in contact with the Chief Executive, Director of Adult Social Care, and Head of Safeguarding.  The SAB has looked on two occasions whether what is happening in Kendal Court would fit within the remit of a Safeguarding review and both times the view has been taken that it did not meet the threshold or criteria of a review. Furthermore, a review would not be an efficient enough way of resolving the issue, given how long they can take to complete, and there are other ongoing methods of resolving it that would be more effective. The SAB remains abreast of the situation and one of its board members is from Healthwatch, which has reviewed the conditions at Kendal Court, so there is considerable knowledge of the issue on the Board.

18.5.     The Board RESOLVED to note the report.

16.1     Graham Bartlett, Independent Chair of the East Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board introduced the report and responded to a number of questions from the Committee. The key issues discussed included:

• Referrals from doctors: The Committee asked about the role of doctors in making referrals to the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB), noting that this has previously been highlighted as an area for improvement. In response, Graham Bartlett informed the Committee that the East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have recently appointed eight named GPs for safeguarding roles.  It is hoped this coordinated approach will have a wider impact on adult safeguarding across the county. George Kouridis (Head of Service Adult Safeguarding) also informed the Committee that safeguarding reports from other medical staff, such as community nurses, form a significant proportion of the referrals received.

• Modern slavery and human trafficking: The Committee asked for more detail about the modern slavery and human trafficking training course which was undertaken by SAB members and sought more information on how prevalent both issues are in East Sussex. In response Graham Bartlett informed the Committee that there is a general lack of awareness and under-reporting of modern slavery and human trafficking activity. As a result, one of the aims of the training course is to help individuals develop the skills to identify possible indicators of abuse.   Mr Bartlett confirmed that the training was applied to many different settings and that it was not being offered due to a specific issue in East Sussex.

36.   

• Conference on Adult B Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR): The Committee asked about the recommendation from the Adult B SAR to hold a conference, hosted jointly with Brighton & Hove SAR, to look into key areas of learning. Specifically, the Committee sought assurance that this conference had now taken place, noting that it was delayed due the pandemic, and asked for the key learnings taken from this. Graham Bartlett confirmed to the Committee that the conference had taken place and that it was very productive and informative. Members were informed that details of the learnings and any policy changes as a result of the conference will be set out in the next annual report to the Committee.
  
  
• Joint working with the East Sussex Safeguarding Children’s Partnership: The Committee asked for clarification about whether the East Sussex Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (ESSCP) and the SAB share learning from serious case reviews and other activities.  In response, the Committee were informed that the Chairs of the SAB and the ESSCP hold seats on both bodies and that a partnership protocol is in place.  The protocol aims to help ensure all work streams and learning are aligned towards best practice and the safeguarding of both adults and children.

16.2     The Committee RESOLVED – to note the report and to thank Graham Bartlett for his commitment and contributions as Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board.