Decision details

5.1    Joan Hutton (Head of Assessment and Care Management) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

·      All partners that are members of the Lewisham Adult Safeguarding Board comply with the same safeguarding duties. All partner organisations audit themselves and present the findings to the board. Each partner organisation has provided their own report on adult safeguarding that has been incorporated into the LSAB annual adult safeguarding report.

·      There is an increased demand relating to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

·      No Safeguarding Adults reviews were necessary in Lewisham in 2014-15. There have been some reviews of domestic homicide cases.

·      The next LSAB annual adult safeguarding report with data from 2015-16 will be published in July instead of February, but with non-validated data.

5.2    Joan Hutton and Aileen Buckton (Executive Director Community Services) answered questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·      The national trend for DoLS is that overall the figures have gone up. The numbers of DoLS in Lewisham are in line with those in neighbouring authorities. The Councils is following the CQCs guidance on the appropriate use of DoLS.

5.3    The Committee made a number of comments. The following key points were noted:

·      There has been a spike in DoLS nationally since the Supreme Court judgement that lowered the threshold for what counts as a deprivation. This was expected to come down.

·      The report uses the phrase ‘own home’ as distinct from ‘care home’ or ‘residential home’ to describe people’s living arrangement. Care homes and residential homes are people’s own homes for the people living in them, which is an important realisation for staff providing care in those environments.

5.4    RESOLVED: that the Committee noted the report.