To receive a presentation from Phillipa Brent-Isherwood.
Minutes:
The Board received a presentation from the Head of Business and Performance on the integrated Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) pilot and development of the Community Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences for adults.
Following the development of the MASH scheme for children and young people in Havering, a pilot scheme to include the safeguarding of adults would be commencing on June 9 2014. Officers advised there were many benefits in utilising the MASH hub for adult safeguarding. The unit was secure, had strong protocols and there was the opportunity to share vital information with partners so as to make informed decisions.
The Children’s and Young People MASH had been operating since 2012 which had resulted in fewer contacts actually becoming referrals to Children’s Services. In addition, more referrals were becoming assessments and there had been a reduction in the duplication of reports to Children’s Services. In addition, cases were also being referred to other services. The Police were currently receiving 20 alerts a week through the MASH hub.
In integrating children’s and adults, there would be the benefit of managing demand and again the opportunity to share information. This would also prompt change in police alert (MERLIN) analysis as currently a third of the number of MERLIN alerts received weekly received no services. It was also important to note that many adult issues affected children such as domestic violence, parental substance misuse and adult mental health. A number of children’s MERLINS had led to raised concerns about the adults within the same household.
The Board were advised that upon receipt of a referral, this would be triaged and rag rated on a risk basis. Red equated to immediate serious harm and action would be taken within four hours. Amber was not considered as immediate and action would be taken within one working day. Green stipulated that there were concerns about an individual but these were not critical.
Officers advised that the scope of the pilot was somewhat limited to acting on Adult Merlins and Safeguarding Alerts. The co-location of the Child Abuse and Investigation Team (CAIT) desk and the development of community MARACs – Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences Panel would lead to a more efficient use of resources.
Partners in the scheme were London Borough of Havering, Metropolitan Police, NELFT, Clinical Commissioning Group, Probation Service and London Councils.
In setting up the scheme, the following had been arranged:
· Staffing structure agreed and new jobs being advertised
· Referral process and pathways for adults agreed
· Terms of Reference, Risk Assessment, referral form and chairing arrangements for Community MARAC agreed
· Accommodation and IT
· Governance arrangements and Steering Group
· Performance Management Framework
· Communications Plan
It was planned to enter into an Information Sharing Agreement and Table top exercise. In addition, there were plans to hold a “Dry run” of a Community MARAC meeting.
The next steps would be to:
· Deliver Communications Plan
· Go live 9 June
· Sources of contacts
· Reasons for contacts
· Turnaround times
· Agency participation in information sharing
· Changes in RAG ratings
· Outcomes of contacts
· Referrals to Social Care progressing to assessment
· Repeat referrals
· Professional disagreements
· Compliments and complaints
· Case studies
· Case audits
· Qualitative evaluation in September or October 2014
The Chief Executive Officer thanked the presenters for an informative report and requested that the Health and Wellbeing Board received future reports on how the project was proceeding and to highlight any issues.