National priority projects - Key achievements and recommendations

Transcription

1 National priority projects - Key achievements and recommendations 1. Adults at risk of Financial harm project Objective: To ensure that Adults at risk of harm are better protected against the risk of financial harm. A programme of engagement with the financial sector on financial harm has been underway which has been very successful with RBS developing an effective process for identifying concerns and referring those concerns to the most appropriate statutory body. Banks are for the first time offering to be part of/or support the work of APCs. Awareness of valuable contribution to ASP that can be made by the private sector has improved the workshop in Nov helped with this. The policy director of the Building Societies Association, 7 members of which have a presence in Scotland and have agreed to introduce a referral process, intimated that the Scottish initiative was spoken about during a House of Lords debate in May. It was hailed as a good example of how public and private sector organisations can work together. Generally word of the Scottish initiative has been spreading within financial institutions, Trading Standards, Police, Citizens Advice etc. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been approached and has intimated a keen interest in the Scottish initiative. They advised the initiative fits with their objective to make banks serve their customers well it is expected that their overt support will be forthcoming in the near future. National strategy to protect vulnerable adults from financial harm to be developed bringing together partners and extending support and protection to all persons at risk - need to make financial harm everyone s business i.e. public, private, voluntary sectors & community. National multi-agency financial harm coordination group to be set up to ensure better coordination, maximise benefit of individual contributions and prevent duplication of work and link current work such as Doorstep crime initiatives to ASP and APCs. National pledge offer to financial institutions and Royal mail to promote business to take responsibility for customer protection of customers. Role of Scottish Business Resilience centre to include support for Adults at risk of financial harm workstream (continued engagement with FCA and financial institutions/develop model of engagement). Improved referral process and Information sharing (Information commissioner guidance). National training programme on financial harm awareness for public, private and 3 rd sectors.

2 2. Adult Support and Protection in Care Homes and Independent Hospitals project Objective: To enable and support the consistent delivery of adult support and protection in care home settings in order to reduce the risk of harm to adults at risk in care homes. Scottish Care, Scottish Independent hospitals association, the Care Inspectorate and councils carried out surveys to analyse the knowledge and need for training of their members on adult protection. This resulted in some improvements in awareness. 3 councils piloted work with partners including care home providers, service users and carers to develop methods to support improved partnership working. Guidance was produced to provide principles for collaborative ASP practice. A learning outcomes framework for care home staff was developed with resources listed to support outcomes detailed. This is being disseminated to support staff training. A leaflet to raise the awareness of care home residents and their relatives of their rights and how to seek help has been produced. Develop bespoke training package for care homes and independent hospitals. Care information Scotland project to be used as an opportunity to raise awareness of the public / service users and carers about their rights and the help that can be provided. Provide a resource bank of information for raising public awareness about ASP in care. National strategy for care for adults at risk of harm to facilitate joined up working (private public partnerships) and preventative work. Commissioning bodies to be trained in ASP role and responsibilities. Develop national framework for large scale investigations (LSI) and protocols re responsibilities. Partners to ensure concerns can be raised via complaints processes. Produce principles for collaborative working for ASP for independent hospitals. The Care Inspectorate and Health improvement Scotland to continue work to audit and raise awareness of providers of ASP, and should analyse staff perceptions of reporting.

3 3. Adult Support and Protection in A&E settings project Objective: To improve policy and practice in A&E settings so staff understand ASP, identify and report adults at risk and comply with duty to co-operate, ensure care pathway is responsive to ASP needs. Increases in the number of referrals from A&E departments to councils have been recorded Improvements in NHS &SAS engagement, knowledge and awareness of ASP evidenced 10 Health Boards and SAS submitted reports to detail their ASP activities. A number shared examples of work demonstrating effective ways to improve practice. An analysis of the APC conveners views on local Board participation in the national work assisted in directing recommendations and will assist with future work A bespoke ASP in A&E training package was developed, delivered and evaluated by a number of Boards and a NHS legal duties posters produced to support staff and future work with Boards/SAS A tool was developed to support Boards to audit level of awareness, knowledge and understanding of staff of ASP and identify numbers who have been trained NHS A&E & SAS staff and undergraduate health professionals in higher academic institutions to complete mandatory ASP training. NHS Boards including SAS to explore models to maintain awareness e.g. ASP champions. Councils to provide single point contacts for referrals. APCs to work with partners to review referral forms/methods and security of systems for information sharing. APCs to work collaboratively with A&E services, providing feedback on action taken from referrals, case reviews and LSIs. APCs to review APC representation and roles e.g. invite SAS. Partners to consider developing a one stop people protection referral process. Scottish Government to investigate evidence of need for better response for people who do not meet ASP criteria (e.g. adults in distress).

4 4. Service Users and Carers Involvement in Adult Support and Protection project Objective: To obtain Service User and Carer feedback regarding their preferred methods of engagement with ASP processes, explore ways to improve their involvement. The awareness of service users and carer organisations about adult protection has been raised as a result of the request for their input on the project and the focus groups. Networks and connections have been made. Focus groups carried out with service users and carers produced a range of findings on process, engagement, awareness and links to other agenda and piloted the use of a tool to communicate ASP themes. A scoping of literature findings on user and carer engagement was produced providing a range of findings. Local and national public information materials were reviewed and guidance produced to assist people producing public information. Improve the model for holding case conferences (detailed suggestions provided). Better use of communication tools for communicating to service users and the public. Improve professional awareness of communication techniques and access to public awareness materials to meet different communication needs. Make clearer links between ASP and carers legislation. Scope technologies available in other areas e.g. fire and rescue, dementia to see if of value in ASP Set up a virtual user carer network/feedback group through representative organisations to give users and carers a voice at national level. Improve prevention by developing community connections to help disseminate the ASP message. Develop a national store of public awareness material. Develop ASP brand to increase visibility and memory at national and local level. Provide/disseminate list of national helplines/agencies. Carry out & disseminate a full literature review on user carer engagement and awareness raising. Ask practitioners what research if any would assist them to improve outcomes. Commission research where needed.

5 5. National Data Collection project Objective: To provide a national data collection mechanism that is usable and suitable for data collection, fulfils equality requirements and can be used for overall public protection. Achievement: A national data collection template with guidance notes was issued on 1 April 14 to all councils. This is the trial data collection (testing phase) which will be analysed in September. Recommendation: Review data collection in 2 years time including best means to publish statistics, taking into account the impact of health and social care integration