Strategic Business Plan 2021-2024

Introduction

The Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership (TDSAP) acts as the key mechanism for agreeing how partner organisations work together to safeguard and promote the safety and wellbeing of adults at risk and/or in vulnerable situations. It does this by co-ordinating what each of the TDSAP partners does and makes sure that they do it effectively.

The TDSAP multi-agency partnership, aims to promote awareness and understanding of abuse and neglect among the public, carers, professionals, care providers and the wider community. It works to generate community interest and engagement in safeguarding to make sure that ‘safeguarding is everyone’s business’.

Under the Care Act 2014, the TDSAP must develop and publish a strategic plan that clearly sets out how it plans to achieve all its statutory objectives.

In developing this strategic plan, the partnership has worked closely with partner organisations and sought input from community groups, to develop a set of priorities that best reflect the needs of Torbay and Devon.

The work of partnership is not exclusive to these priorities: flexibility is a key characteristic of the TDSAP and priority will also be afforded to urgent themes and risks that present themselves throughout the next 3 years.

Each year, the TDSAP will publish an annual report on how the strategic priorities have been achieved and how partner organisations have contributed to them.

Safeguarding principles

Empowerment

People should be supported and encouraged to make their own decisions. This should be done by:

• making services more personal
• giving people choice and control over decisions
• asking people what they want the outcome to be.

What does this mean for the adult?
You are asked what you want to happen and services plan safeguarding round this.

Prevention

Organisations will work together to stop abuse before it happens by:

• raising awareness about abuse and neglect training staff
• making sure clear, simple and accessible information is available about abuse and where people can get help.

What does this mean for the adult?
You will get clear and simple information about what abuse is and who to ask for help.

Proportionality

When dealing with abuse, harm and neglect services must ensure that they always think about the risk. Any response should be appropriate to the risk presented. Services must respect the person, think about what is best for them and only get involved as much as needed.

What does this mean for the adult?
Services think about what is best for you and only get involved when they need to.

Protection

Organisations must ensure that they know what to do when abuse has happened by:

• what to do if there are concerns
• how to stop the abuse
• how to offer help and support for people who are at risk.

What does this mean for the adult?
You can get help and support to tell people about abuse and can get involved in the safeguarding as much or as little as you want.

Partnership

Organisations should work in partnership with each other and local communities. Local people also have a part to play in preventing, detecting and reporting abuse.

What does this mean for the adult?
Staff look after your personal information and only share it when this helps to keep you safe.

Accountability

Organisations should work in partnership with each other and local communities. Local people also have a part to play in preventing, detecting and reporting abuse.

What does this mean for the adult?
Staff look after your personal information and only share it when this helps to keep you safe.

Strategic priority 1

To embed the learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) into organisational practice.

What we will do to delivery this priority

• Partners will contribute to the SAR process and play a key role to identify the relevant learning
• We will embed a process to identify immediate learning and implement this swiftly
• We will ensure the learning is SMART with key success criteria in place
• Partners will provide strong evidence to assure the TDSAP that sustained improvements have been embedded
• Promote multi-organisational communication, ensuring cooperation as an underlying key principle
• Develop swift and dynamic processes for delivery of Safeguarding Adult Reviews
• Each Safeguarding Adult Review will have an underlying principle to ‘Focus on the learning’ for each organisation
• We will regularly monitor, identify and resolve reoccurring SAR themes to prevent reoccurrence.

Strategic priority 2

To improve outcomes for people with needs for care and support by finding the right solution for them.

What we will do to deliver this priority

• To seek assurance that partners and service representatives work together to establish more effective coordination to achieve person centred solutions
• Work with partners and service representatives to better understand and embed a creative approach to finding effective solutions for people with complex lives
• We will develop and share key data and information to help develop effective communications and co-ordination between partner organisations, including strengthening links with the districts and community safety partners
• We will focus on preventative strategies to better understand how we can avoid the need for safeguarding intervention
• We will work with service representatives and commissioning partners to better understand peoples needs and support them to achieve their desired outcomes
• To have regular assurance from partners that people are safeguarded during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and that attention to safeguarding continues in accordance with statutory responsibilities, recognising that some people will be put at greater risk as a consequence of the pandemic.

Strategic priority 3

To work with partners to better understand and reduce the risk of ‘Hidden Harm’.

What we will do to deliver this priority

• Support and encourage all safeguarding partners to focus on the ‘Hidden Harm’ that is usually out of sight from public view and often not recognised or reported
• Ensure that the emphasis is on having a culture of ‘spotting early signs’ and helping to prevent the risks escalating
• Use COVID 19 quantitative and qualitive data and information to seek assurance that partners are all uncovering and responding to hidden harm
• Ensure that all safeguarding partners who work with people who have needs for care and support, exercise professional curiosity and take appropriate action
• Embed the theme of ‘professional curiosity’ within multi agency case audits (MACA)
• Develop and deliver a multi-organisational workshop and awareness campaign for partners and service representatives to better understand, encourage and support professional curiosity and escalation within their organisations

Strategic priority 4

Improving Involvement and Engagement with people in receipt of safeguarding services.

What we will do to deliver this priority

• We will build on past Safeguarding Awareness Campaigns by targeting communications within our communities to raise further awareness of safeguarding
• We will learn from COVID 19 experiences and use this feedback to shape future engagement
• We will work with key partners to improve the interface with children’s services especially for those who transition to adult services
• To seek assurance that all partners are involving and listening to people about their experience of safeguarding
• Ensuring that all people are listening to, valuing and responding to relatives, friends and people in communities
• The partnership will have a focus on ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ to ensure that safeguarding is person-led and outcome-focussed
• We will continue to invest and engage with community groups to ensure the ‘voice of the person’ is central to partnership working

How will we monitor and ensure delivery

• The TDSAP Business Activity Plan monitors and reviews the development, progression and delivery of the actions that support these 4 Strategic Priorities
• The TDSAP Sub Groups are assigned responsibility for completion of specific activities that support the 4 Strategic Priorities
• The Operational Delivery Group holds the Business Activity Plan and reports on progress to each TDSAP Board meeting
• We will regularly monitor and assess the safeguarding data and performance to inform future thinking and direction of travel
• A yearly Annual Report is produced that evidences the outcomes and benefits of the TDSAP Business Activity.