Foreword from Independent Chair SSASPB
This newsletter has been produced to coincide and contribute to national Adult
Safeguarding Week which runs from Monday 20 November until Friday 24 November 2023
As in previous years the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board (SSASPB) and its connected partners will be playing an active part.
Adult Safeguarding Week will focus on the links between safeguarding and physical and mental wellbeing. Several of the SSASPB partners are facilitating events and these have been well publicised and promoted within partner organisations. These events are designed to raise awareness of the issues and to offer practical guidance and perspectives from adults with lived experiences. Feedback from events in previous years has been positive and I would again encourage you to get involved where you are
able.
In the previous newsletter I mentioned the challenges for the SSASPB to demonstrate that there have been changes in safeguarding and working practice in response to the learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews and other learning events. In this newsletter I acknowledge the work of Anna Woodberry, Stoke on Trent City Council, who has been trialing different ways of gaining your feedback from our training events so that we can better meet your learning needs in the future and to be assured that our events are
having a positive impact on safeguarding practice. As you will read from the article that follows there has been some positive findings. I take this opportunity to thank those involved in delivering and facilitating the training.
I am pleased also to acknowledge the work of Franicis Ciatii, the Senior Social Worker for ‘Homes for Ukraine’ at Stoke-on-Trent City Council who has a primary focus of helping to ensure the well-being of Ukrainian guests and their hosts and to identify any safeguarding risks. Many reading this newsletter may not know Francis so she has provided her details and extends an invitation to contact her on matters of mutual interest.
You will also read that there is a short article on the theme of escalating concerns that may have a safeguarding connection. The absence of an escalation of concerns continues to be a theme in learning reviews. The message from the SSASPB is that constructive challenge is healthy, within organisations and between organisations, with encouragement to act in the best interests to safeguard an adult experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect.
As always your suggestions on future content for the newsletter are most welcome – please use the email link [email protected].
Thank you for reading.
John Wood, Independent Chair
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