Spring 2016, Issue 9

New Chair for the

Safeguarding

Adults Board After three and a half years Andy Searle is standing down as

Chair of the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Adults Board

(RBSAB) and the Board recorded its thanks for all his hard work

at its Development Day on 22nd

January 2016.

Jane Booth has been appointed as new Chair of the Board and

took on this role on 1st February 2016. Jane started her career in

the Probation Service but has focussed on social care for most of

her working life and has managed and inspected both adult and

children’s services in the past.

Jane said “ I am really looking forward to taking on this role. It is

clear that the Safeguarding Adult Board in Rochdale Borough is

ahead of the game in many

respects and well-placed to

take on the challenges that

come with the new statutory

status and policy

expectations.”

Jane is also the Chair of the

Rochdale Borough

Safeguarding Children’s Board.

In this issue:

News from the Board 2

Who’s who? 4

Controlling

behaviour 5

Safeguarding in

Housing 5

Carers Rights 5

Wilful Neglect 6

Fraud against Older

People 6

Disability Hate Crime

Performance 7

Multi-Faith Forum 7

Training 8

Stay Well 9

Fire Service

Stay Safe 10

Partnership Forum 10

Jargon Buster 11

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The Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Adults Board (RBSAB) meets every three

months and each newsletter carries a summary of what was discussed.

The last Board meeting was in March 2016.

News from the Board – an update from the last Board meeting

The Board reviewed a report into unexpected deaths at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

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News from the Board – an update from the last Board meeting

The Board considered whether to recruit lay members to the Board, and if so, how many. The role of lay members is similar to that of non-executive directors of companies. They bring a knowledge and expertise to discussions and they provide an important balance of support and challenge.

The Board considered and ratified the new Information Sharing Agreement. A previous version had been agreed but one partner had been unable to sign it. Information sharing is important for delivering better and more cost effective services which meet the needs of the individual. However, too often data protection and human rights laws are seen as barriers to responsible information sharing rather than a framework for balancing rights to privacy with the legitimate and controlled use of personal information. The Information Sharing Agreement controls the way information is shared to ensure it is proportionate and on a need-to-know basis, so that shared information is used only for the specific purposes set out in the Agreement.

A summary of all the Board meetings

can be found at www.rbsab.org.uk

along with lots of other

safeguarding information!

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Who’s who? In each issue we introduce a member of the Board, to help people understand who is on the Board and the types of backgrounds and jobs they have.

This issue features Tricia Hornby, Chief Executive of Rochdale

and District Mind.

Hello. My name is Tricia Hornby and I am the Chief Executive of Rochdale and District Mind. I have worked in Health and Social care in Rochdale for the past 40 years and am committed campaigner for better Mental Health. I have served on the Safeguarding Adults Board for many years and have represented Advocacy and act as a link for Independent Mental Health services. I have chaired the Safeguarding Communication and Engagement group until fairly recently and we have contributed to the Mental Capacity Act/Deprivation of Liberty group. Rochdale and District Mind provide Advocacy services and a range of mental health and wellbeing services in Rochdale and we play a vital role in Safeguarding. This is both through individual advocacy support and representation as well as campaigning on issues that are important to local people and where we identify poor practice or situations that are plain wrong. There are different types of Advocacy roles. Rochdale Borough Council must involve people in decisions where there is to be a Safeguarding enquiry or Safeguarding Adult Review. Advocates can support people involved in Safeguarding issues where a person may lack Capacity or have substantial difficulty participating without support. Campaigning may involve raising issues of poor practice, collective advocacy where issues may affect more than one individual and supporting people with mental health issues to have a voice in how services are deigned and delivered. I act as the Safeguarding lead in our Organisation a trained trainer and deliver safeguarding training to all our staff and Volunteers every quarter and have supported other third sector organisations with Safeguarding issues. I look forward to continuing to work with the Board and its partners in the coming year.

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New offence for Coercive

and Controlling Behaviour

A new domestic abuse offence for "coercive and controlling behaviour" within relationships came in to effect at the end of 2015. The legislation will target those who subject spouses, partners and family members to psychological and emotional torment but stop short of violence. Home Secretary Theresa May said domestic abuse by intimate partners or family members was a "hideous" crime that shattered lives. She said she hoped the new law would protect victims from extreme psychological and emotional abuse. Citizens Advice recently published figures showing a 24% rise in those seeking advice for domestic abuse. The maximum penalty for the new offence will be five years in prison and a fine. Coercive and controlling behaviour can include the abuser preventing their victim from having friendships or hobbies, controlling their social media accounts, surveillance through apps, refusing them access to money and determining many aspects of their everyday life, such as when they are allowed to eat, sleep and go to the toilet. The new offence comes after the government ran a consultation over the summer seeking views on whether the law on domestic abuse needed to be strengthened. The Home Office said that 85% of the participants in that consultation said the law did not provide sufficient protection to victims. If you or someone you know is in need of support in relation to domestic abuse, contact the Greater Manchester Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0161 636 7525 or visit www.endthefear.co.uk

This Carers Rights Guide from

Carers UK outlines the rights of

a carer, and gives the full

picture of the practical and

financial support available.

In England, the Care Act was

implemented in 2015 and

brought new rights for

carers to receive services and

get support. Find out more

about these new

rights in this report.

Download from: https://

www.carersuk.org/help-and-

advice/get-resources/carers-

Safeguarding in Housing

There is a new page on the RBSAB website, specifically around safeguarding in housing. The page contains three SCIE guides:

Adult safeguarding for housing staff: Guidance for frontline housing staff and contractors Adult safeguarding for housing staff: Guidance for housing managers Adult safeguarding for housing staff: Guidance for local authority social care staff

The page can be found at https://www.rbsab.org/professionals/

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……….that since 13 April 2015, it has been a criminal offence for care workers to ill-treat or willfully neglect someone in receipt of care? There is also the risk of criminal liability for care providers. The new offences were introduced under the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. When the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into force it introduced a criminal offence for care workers who ill-treat or willfully neglect service users. However, the offence only applied to service users who lacked capacity and only care workers (rather than care providers) could be liable. The new offences have a far broader reach as they protect all service users (irrespective of their mental capacity) and apply to both care workers and care providers. Care workers (including managers, directors and their equivalents) will be guilty of an offence and personally liable if they ill-treat or willfully neglect a service user. The offence is not intended to catch genuine mistakes; the care worker must act deliberately or recklessly. The offence carries a potential prison sentence of five years as well as an unlimited fine.

Only the Tip of the Iceberg: Fraud against

Older People This report aims to contribute to the wide-ranging work underway

to tackle fraud and ‘scams’. It reviews the existing evidence of how

older people in particular are affected by the full range of ‘scams’.

This evidence review gives solid evidence base to help move

forward and develop more and better solutions.

Download the full report here.

The Little Book of Big Scams is available on the

Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Adults Board website.

It gives practical advice about how to stay safe from online, postal

and doorstep crime.

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Disability Hate Crime Two performances of the new play “Animals” took place at the

Town Hall on 22nd February. The performances were the

culmination of a disability hate crime project led by agencies such

as the RBSAB, Possabilities, Rochdale Safer Communities and

Greater Manchester Police.

Approximately 250 educators, carers, care professionals,

people with learning disabilities and young people attended in

total and a film of the performances will be uploaded to YouTube

in the near future - details will appear on the RBSAB website.

It is planned to use the film to help raise awareness of disability

hate crime across the borough.

For more information on disability hate crime, and other forms of hate crime, visit the True Vision website.

You can also report a hate crime on th site. For other ways to report a hate crime, visit the RBSAB

website.

If you want to feature your safeguarding

work, service or project in this newsletter,

just contact rbsab@rochdale.gov.uk

Faith Group Forum - 19th May

The next faith Group Forum is on 19th May at 6.30pm. The Forum is open to representatives of ALL faith

groups across the borough and is an opportunity to share good practice in relation to children’s and adult

safeguarding, to discuss progress and priorities of safeguarding children and adults and to raise awareness

of safeguarding practice in Rochdale.

Topics being discussed are neglect and self-neglect.

The last Forum attracted over 20 people from a variety of faith groups and looked at private fostering and the

roles of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and the Designated Adult Safeguarding Manager

(DASM). The presentations from this meeting are available by contacting rbsab@rochdale.gov.uk

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A brief look at types of abuse, and things to look out for. Aimed at care staff in private, voluntary and statutory sectors; generally front-line people with regular client contact. Includes a printable PDF version. http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/ataglance/69-adults-safeguarding-types-and-indicators-of-abuse.asp

Guide: Adult Safeguarding for Housing Staff This guide aims to raise awareness about safeguarding in the housing sector, at management and frontline levels, for all housing staff, not just those in sheltered or supported housing. http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide53/

Briefing: Care Act implications for safeguarding adults The Care Act 2014 puts adult safeguarding on a legal footing, putting good practice into law. This Skills for Care and ADASS- authored briefing sets out: key messages the role of local authorities and partners the impact of the legislation relating to local SABs considerations for care providers and other organisations. Briefing: Care Act implications for safeguarding adults

Adult Safeguarding Resources This SCIE resource promotes the safeguarding of adults at risk. Visit 'Life stories' to explore the stories of Hope and Darren, written especially to show key adult safeguarding issues. Use the 'Study area' and 'Resources' to learn more about the topic. http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/elearning/adultsafeguarding/resource/index.html

List of adult safeguarding resources The Local Government Association has put together a list of resources for adult safeguarding including guides, checklists and elearning. http://www.local.gov.uk/care-support-reform/-/journal_content/56/10180/7521881/ARTICLE

QUIZ!! Test your knowledge

of adult safeguard-

ing with these 20

questions!!!

Training

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Rochdale Borough Council has launched a new adult care website, so you can access all the help you need at the touch of a button. The new site, staywell.rochdale.gov.uk, has been designed to make it quicker and easier for you to get the help and advice you need and allows you to:

Access advice and information on care and support services that are available in the Rochdale Borough area

Check out services and equipment which could help you remain independent

Get information and tips on how you can improve your health and wellbeing and how you can remain safe with your community

Learn more about what facilities are available in the Rochdale Borough that will assist you to get out and about

Complete a questionnaire to see if you can receive care and support from adult care or other support services

Complete a carers’ questionnaire to see what support you can receive to help you in your caring role

Understand charges in adult care services and use an online financial calculator to find out how much financial support you may be able to receive to help pay for adult care services

Log on to the Staywell.rochdale.gov.uk and let us know what you think by emailing your feedback to careact@rochdale.gov.uk

Rochdale Stay Well

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Partnership Forum 78 people attended the last Partnership Forum in February. The theme of the meeting was trafficking and

modern slavery and our guest speakers included Sue Swidrack fro the charity

Hope for Justice, Gillian Lucas from Strategic Housing, Martin Souter from Greater

Manchester Police and Philip Mykytiuk from Environmental Health.

Attendees learned what human trafficking is and the different types of modern

slavery that exist; how to recognise the signs or indicators of different types of

trafficking; and how to respond appropriately to a victim should they come across

one, and the referral pathways that exist. The meeting also heard about the local

situation in the Rochdale borough.

Partnership Forum meetings are open to anyone with an interest in adult safeguarding - the focus of the

meeting is different each time and there is no need to attend every meeting - you can just dip in and out as

the subject interests you.

The next meeting is on June 28th at Number One Riverside in Rochdale. Further details will be available

on www.safeguarding4rochdale.com nearer the time. If you would like any further information about the

Forum please contact rbsab@rochdale.gov.uk

Sue Swidrak from

Hope for Justice

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Jargon Buster Sometimes it can be difficult for people to understand the information they are given because they are not familiar with the terms being used or how the health and social care systems work. In this regular feature, we’ll be explaining some

of the terms you might come across.

What is a Carers Assessment?

Looking after someone can be tiring, stressful and can take up a lot of a Carer’s time. There are likely to be times when they need a break or need some additional help and support from elsewhere to reduce the strain. A Carer can have a Carers assessment even if the person they care for does not need any help from the council and that person will not need to be assessed. A Carer will be entitled to support from the council if they meet all three of the following: The Carer's need for support arises because they are providing necessary care and

support for another adult e.g. eating/drinking, meals prep, personal care, toileting, dressing, mobilising, and cleaning

The Carer cannot achieve one or more of the outcomes listed below As a result of not being able to achieve one or more outcome or there is likely to be a

significant effect on the Carer's own wellbeing Outcomes: Carry on caring for a child Continue to provide care Maintain a habitable home environment in the Carer's home, whether or not this is also the

home of the adult needing care Manage and maintain nutrition Maintain family/personal relationships Engage in work, training, volunteering, and education Use facilities or services in the local communities e.g. leisure centres, community groups Engage in recreational activities If a Carer is eligible for support they may be entitled to the following: A Carers personal budget, to be used to spend on things that would make their caring role

easier, e.g. Gym membership to help maintain their wellbeing Practical support e.g. arranging for someone to step in when they need a short break. The Carer could be put in touch with local groups that can offer support, so they have

people to talk to, who are in similar caring roles If following a Carers assessment the Carer is not eligible for support from the council, infor-mation and advice will be provided on how they can access support from other sources e.g. their own GP or Carers Resource Centre. For more information please see the Rochdale Stay Well website: staywell.rochdale.gov.uk

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To Report a

Safeguarding

Concern