Aberdeenshire Adult Support and Protection Report

Today the report of the joint inspection of Adult Support and Protection in Aberdeenshire was published on the Care Inspectorate website. The full report can be found here.

Jim Savege, Aberdeenshire Council Chief Executive and Chair of the Executive Group for Public Protection has welcomed the report findings, he stated ‘We are delighted to see the hard work of staff across all partner organisations acknowledged in such a positive report, to have the work of our partnership identified as ‘sector leading’ is an endorsement of the daily commitment shown by all.’

Inspection focused on two key areas.

Our partnership in Aberdeenshire was found to be effective with areas for improvement in both these areas. The inspectors noted that there were clear strengths supporting positive experiences and outcomes for adults at risk of harm, which collectively outweighed the areas for improvement.

As a partnership we are pleased that the inspectors recognise that we are making a positive difference to adults’ lives. The report states:

“Almost all adults at risk of harm experienced improvements in relation to their safety as a result of adult support and protection interventions. This was almost always due to multi-agency working.”

In the file reading undertaken 94% of adults at risk of harm had some improvement for safety and protection and 96% of adults at risk of harm had support throughout their adult protection journey.

The Inspectors also recognised the improvements that have occurred since our last Inspection in 2017.

“The quality of adult support and protection interagency referral discussions, inquiries using investigatory powers, chronologies, risk assessments, case conferences and protection planning was high. The partnership not only maintained those areas of practice since the 2017 joint inspection but made improvements to their chronologies and quality of investigations. Interagency referral discussion practice was sector leading.”

Collaborative working was assessed to be strong throughout the partnership.

“Almost all partnership staff indicated that they were supported to work collaboratively and achieve positive outcomes for adults at risk of harm. Collaborative assessment of risk and shared decision making were strongly evident across key frontline processes from interagency referral discussion through to review case conferences”.

As with all Inspection activity, some areas for improvement were identified. Our processes and the way we record screening of ASP reports and initial inquiries were seen as requiring improvement. A workshop has been arranged so that staff help us lead the way on the required practice improvements.

Members of the Aberdeenshire Adult Protection Committee (APC) will meet on the 18 April. They will discuss areas that have been identified for improvement not only through the inspection activity but will also consider learning reviews and feedback from adults at risk and their carers and staff across the partnership. The APC will develop an improvement plan based on this session and share this in May.