I am pleased to say that, despite the on-going restrictions caused by Covid, the Children’s Partnership and the Adults’ Board  have been able to arrange a few learning events over the past quarter and I was delighted to join most of these.

In October Dr Jenny Molloy shared her experiences of neglect and of being a care leaver. Her straight talking and personal reflections were really powerful. I know that the learning from the event will be incorporated into the work that Dr Lesley Ray is leading for the Partnership on neglect. Dr Molloy led another session in November on sexual exploitation and, though I wasn’t able to join it, I understand that there was similar positive feedback.

In December the Adults’ Board held its first conference for some time and its first event on line. The objective of the day was on learning from previous Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) – both at a local and national level. The main focus of the conference was on the learning about self-neglect and links to mental capacity. It is clear from cases that are raised with the SAR sub-group that these can be challenging cases to deal with – for example when do what appear to be unwise choices about lifestyle become so serious that they indicate a lack of mental capacity and a need for the state to intervene. There are a lot more information and toolkits available to support those who are having to make decisions and there are opportunities to raise the most complicated cases to be discussed at a complex case panel with other professionals.

In January 2022 we held our first SAR testing workshops. I had been keen to get people together from a relevant organisations to discuss the response to a range of scenarios. We ran separate sessions for managers and practitioners to look at the issues and gaps and used two different cases which had themes of self-neglect, non-engagement, mental capacity, risk assessments and information sharing. I was really impressed with the contribution of all of those who attended and some really important learning and gaps were identified. These will be incorporated into the work of the Board and its sub-groups. I am keen to run a similar exercise for the children’s partnership – but I am conscious that the teams have had a busy few months with both workload and the Ofsted Inspection.

I hope that you find useful information in this newsletter and wish you all a rather belated Happy New Year.

Sir Francis J S Habgood

Independent Chair for Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership

Independent Chair for Buckinghamshire Adult Safeguarding Board