Coventry signs up to new adult safeguarding procedures
Friday 12 October 2012
Coventry has signed up to a new policy that will ensure adult safeguarding issues are dealt with in the same way across the West Midlands.
Currently each area in the region has its own policies and procedures for tackling issues which potentially could put vulnerable adults at risk of abuse.
Now the West Midlands Regional Safeguarding Network - which comprises safeguarding leads from local authorities across the region - has developed the new procedures.
It is hoped the guidelines will improve inter-agency working and lead to a more consistent service across the region.
Coventry joined partners in Warwickshire and Solihull in signing up for the new initiative, called Safeguarding Adults: Multi-Agency Policy and Procedures for the West Midlands.
All three areas signed up to the procedures at a special safeguarding adults conference held at the Welcome Centre, Parkside, Coventry.
Brian Walsh, Chair of Coventry's Adult Safeguarding Board, believes the move is a step in the right direction.
He said: "The main statutory agencies - such as local councils, the police and NHS organisations - need to work together both to promote safer communities to prevent harm and abuse and to deal well with suspected or actual cases.
"That is why we have come together and we believe that adults at risk are best protected when procedures between statutory agencies are consistent across the West Midlands region.
"The new policy and procedures are all about consistency and making sure that we're not working to different policies in different areas."
Brian added: "There wasn't anything wrong with the way that individual areas were doing things beforehand, but we want to ensure that people across the West Midlands can be confident that the way they will be treated in one area will be the same as another."
Picture Caption:
Councillor Ann Lucas, Coventry City Council's Cabinet Member for Health and Community Services signs up to the new protocol with Robert Templeton, Head of Transforming Adult Social Care at the Social Care Institute for Excellence.
