Cumbria Safeguarding Adults Board are currently in the process of completing a thematic SAR involving 6 adults who were experiencing self-neglect.  To inform the review process we are inviting colleagues from across the system to take part in an online event. 

Practitioners, managers and senior leaders from agencies across Cumbria should attend this event which will be facilitated by Independent Reviewer Suzy Braye.   The main purpose of the event is to invite discussion of two broader questions:

• What is working well now in work with people who self-neglect?
• What are the challenges now of working with self-neglect, what could we improve?

Participants will not be asked to comment directly or answer questions specifically on their own involvement with any individual. The event is offerred widely to all practitioners with focus at a more general level to identify: what helps best practice with people who self-neglect and what hinders it.

It is important that we have attendance from practitioners and operational managers with direct current experience from the frontline, but also from senior leaders, including those in senior management and in commissioning. In this way, it will be possible to ‘check the temperature’ of self-neglect work in Cumbria from the perspective of all the organisational layers on which positive change will depend.

To book a place or make a nomination please send name, job role, organisation  and email contact details to csab@cumberland.gov.uk before Tuesday 22^nd October 2024.

Advance registration is essential, as a briefing document and joining details will be sent directly to those attending.

National Safeguarding Adults Week is a time for organisations to come together to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues.

The Ann Craft Trust have set the core theme for the Safeguarding Adults Week "Working in Partnership",  working in partnerships allows organisations to share our knowledge of safeguarding, learn from others and ultimately create safer cultures.

Safeguarding Adults Week 2024 will explore a different safeguarding theme each day including;

Day 1 Developing Professional Curiosity

Day 2 How do we listen to people

Day 3 Establishing Professional Boundaries

Day 4 Recognising Exploitation

Day 5 Professional & Organisational Learning

During the week of action CSAB will be sharing resorces and learning opportunities.  For more information about the above themes you can visit Ann Craft Trust website

During National Safeguarding Adults Week CSAB will deliver a lunch & learn session to highlight good practice when working with adults who are experiencing self-neglect. John’s story illustrates the effectiveness of multi-agency working and practice when working with adults who experience self-neglect and the impact of practitioner’s tenacity, professional curiosity and creativity ensuring making safeguarding personal with positive outcomes.

The session will take place on Wednesday 20th November 2024, 12noon – 12.45pm.  

To book a place on this session, please click here.

Cumbria Safeguarding Adults Board will deliver our annual conference this year during National Safeguarding Adults Week. 

The virtual event will take place on Tuesday 19th November 2024 and include the following themes;

• The cost of bearing witness; the impact of vicarious trauma on practitioners.  How to support colleagues and yourself.
• Self-neglect system learning in Cumbria; best practice and learning from thematic Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR).
• Care & Support needs; the interpretation and application of 'care and support needs' to ensure adults at risk of abuse or neglect are safeguarded.
• Unconscious bias; the impact of bias on practice and language.

The final programme outline, further information and booking instructions will be shared in due course. 

Practitioners across the system are invited to attend a lunch and learn session where the learning from a recent SAR, Miss B will be shared. 

Miss B had a diagnosed mild learning disability and also suffered from diabetes, she was supported by a number of professionals and services with additional  support provided by family.  Miss B was known not to adhere to her medication plan, including the administration of insulin and had a history of disengaging from services and treatment plans that were provided to maintain her physical health.

On many occasions throughout the period of the review, consideration was given to Miss B’s capacity to understand the reasons for her treatment and the consequences of not adhering to it and this was  discussed between professionals. The SAR considered how agencies could have worked together more effectively to prevent harm resulting from the self-neglect occurring. 

Practitioners are invited to attend the lunch and learn session to find out more about the learning the SAR identified.   Places need to be booked in advance as further information will be shared with practitioners ahead of the lunch & learn session.

The session will take place on Thursday 14th November 2024, 12noon - 1pm.

To book a place on this free session, please click here. 

The 2024 National Safeguarding Adults Manager’s Network, ‘We See You We Hear You’ Award nominations are still open!

Please don’t delay nominating an individual or team for these national awards.

There are various categories, the deadline for all nominations is 18th October 2024. 

To nominate, click here  For more information, please email bsab@bexley.gov.uk

You are invited to join the Helen Bamber Foundation: Mental Health and Trauma informed care for victims and survivors of Modern Slavery Human & Trafficking (MSHT).

There is no need to book, please click here to join the Microsoft Team's meeting link on Tuesday 15th October 2024, 09:30 - 10:20.

Health and care organisations across the North East and North Cumbria are working together to share a message about stigma and addiction.

Stigma Kills is a campaign created by the NHS Addictions Provider Alliance, a collaborative of addiction services working to ensure quality, knowledge, and care in addiction services across the UK. The digital campaign asks health and social care workers, and the public too, to ‘see the person, hear their story.’

The campaign urges people to ‘Stop using words that hurt and isolate people, start thinking about why someone might be ill, and ask how you can help.’ Designed to reach both health and care workers, and the public, the campaign highlights how stigma and judgement can leave people alone with no access to the help they desperately need.

Visit the Stigma Kills website here.

In August 2024 the NHS announced patients experiencing a mental health crisis can now benefit from support through 111.  People of all ages, including children, who are in crisis or concerned family and loved ones can now call 111, select the mental health option and speak to a trained mental health professional.

For more information click here.

If you have a learning disability or work with adults and young people over the age of 14, you should be registered on your GP's Learning Disability Register. This will give you some benefits like having an annual health check.

Click here to watch Harshi's video to find out more. 

Or click here to find out more about the Learning Disability Register leaflet.

Cumbria Police is urging people to be vigilant to fraudsters after a further incident has been reported on the 25th September after a victim was encouraged to transfer thousands of pounds to criminals in fake police officer scam.  This follows a warning issued on the 24th September after three other incidents were reported to police of a person pretending to be a police officer to try and gain money.

To view the Police article please click here.

Remember:

• Police officers will never call you out of the blue and request cash or personal information. They’ll never ask you to transfer money to another account, hand over cash or bank cards to a courier, or a pay a fine or fee over the phone.

• If an officer contacts you in person, they will show you their warrant card. This is proof of their identify and authority.

• If someone has called you and you are unsure if they are a genuine police officer, you can hang up and call police on 101 to check their identity.

If you think you have been the victim of a fraud you can report this to police on 101 and to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit their website here. 

The Department for Education (DfE) published an updated version of the statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance for schools in England, Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) in September 2024. This version replaces previous editions of the guidance. 

The guidance sets out what schools and colleges in England must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18.  To find out more about the summary of changes, please click here to be redirected to the Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership (CSCP) 5 minute briefing.