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The Camden Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) is a partnership of statutory, voluntary and independent organisations that leads adult safeguarding in the borough and oversees how agencies across Camden work together to prevent abuse and protect adults who may be at risk of harm. The SAB is a key statutory mechanism, operating under Section 43 and Schedule 2 of the Care Act 2014, for ensuring that there is a robust multi-agency safeguarding framework in place and monitoring the effect this has on helping and protecting adults in Camden.

The SAB have three core duties:

• develop and publish a strategic plan setting out how they will meet their objectives and how their member and partner agencies will contribute
• publish an annual report detailing how effective their work has been
• commission safeguarding adults reviews (SARs) for any cases which meet the criteria for these.
  
  

The SAB leads on adult safeguarding arrangements across its locality and oversee and coordinate the effectiveness of the safeguarding work of its member and partner agencies. The SAB is supported by the Independent Chair, Dr Adi Cooper to oversee the work of the Board, to provide leadership, offer constructive challenge, and work within the remits of the statutory guidelines. Camden Council are responsible for the establishment of the board and under the Care Act 2014 specifies that there are three statutory members:

• the local authority
• NHS NCL - Integrated Care Board
• the police – specifically the chief officer of police.

For the SAB to fulfil its responsibilities and duties effectively, other agencies will need to be involved in its work. We do this through consulting the statutory members of the board and invite those agencies and forums it identifies to be key partners to nominate representatives.

The SAB is also part of the London Safeguarding Adult Board Managers Network and North West London SAB Independent Chairs and Business Managers. Our Independent Chair also attends the SAB Chairs Network now hosted by the Independent Safeguarding Board Chair’s Network. This ensures that any national issues are considered locally and learnings from local safeguarding cases can be shared whilst avoiding duplication.

Further to the above our key role is to bring partners together to develop and maintain a strong system for protecting adults at risk. We understand no single agency can deal with safeguarding issues alone and by working as a team, partners can share information, pool resources, and respond more effectively. We take the responsibility to:

• Coordinate safeguarding work across different agencies
• Agree local policies and procedures for how safeguarding concerns will be handled
• Monitor how well safeguarding is working in the borough
• Identify and address gaps in local safeguarding services
• Make sure staff in agencies such as social care, health services and the police are training in safeguarding
• Look into cases where an adult dies or suffers serious harm as a result of abuse, or neglect, through something called a Safeguarding Adults Review

Promoting Multi Agency cooperation

The effectiveness of the SAB depends on strong working relationships with our partners. Adult safeguarding is often complex because different partners may have information about an individual that needs to be shared. We create a structure of regular meetings. Joint training, learning events, lead on reviews, and information sharing protocols. This helps to make sure that all relevant organisations are aware of the risk and are clear on how we respond.

Accountability and Transparency

The Board is committed to being accountable to the public and to the authorities that fund and support the work it does. We do this through:

• Public annual reports
• Open engagement with local communities
• Clear evidence of following the care act duties
• Regularly reviewing our own policies and procedures

The Board has four sub-groups which are responsible for carrying out much of the work agreed in the Board’s strategies and annual plan. The four sub-groups are:

• Safeguarding Adults Review Sub-group
• Quality & Performance Sub-group
• Learning & Development Sub-group
• Community & Engagement Sub-group

Establishment Concerns Procedure

The Establishment Concerns Process (ECP) provides a framework for the management of enquiries into concerns involving actual or potential abuse or neglect of adults with care and support needs on an organisational scale within a regulated or contracted health or social care setting.

The ECP is a collective responsibility to contribute resources and expertise from Safeguarding Adult Board partner agencies to achieve the best outcomes for service users. The full ECP guidance can be found here.

How to contact us

Practitioners and managers are welcome to shadow a sub-group to learn more about the work of the Board. If you are interested in getting involved, you can contact us on [email protected]

Key Contacts

SAB Strategy Manager – Ranjit Matharu [email protected]

SAB Officer – Ciaran O’Reilly Ciaran.O'[email protected]