Moray’s multi-agency Public Protection Partnership has evidenced substantial improvement in supporting and protecting adults at risk of harm.
The positive impact achieved by local authority, health and police colleagues in their work to keep people safe, has been acknowledged with publication today (Tuesday 29 October) of the Joint Inspection of Adult Support and Protection in Moray.
The progress review by the Care Inspectorate and its scrutiny partners is a follow-up to a joint inspection carried out in 2022. On their return in August, inspectors found significant progress had been achieved across all seven priority areas identified for improvement.
Fred McBride, independent convenor of Morayโs Adult Protection Committee, welcomed the inspection report. He said: โThis is a strong report and I would like to express my gratitude andย congratulationsย to staff and managers of all the agencies involved for their hard work and expertise which have made these significant improvements a reality.
โWe are very pleased with the level of progress made but we are not in any way complacent. We know that improvement work is continuous and we will work hard to ensure further improvements are made wherever necessary and that adults who may be at risk of harm in Moray are as protected and supported as they possibly can be.โ
Key accomplishments identified in the progress report include:
- Consistent application and delivery of key processes: Frontline staff were confident and highly professional. The partnership overall followed its comprehensive multi-agency adult support and protection procedures rigorously.
- Improved investigations: Full adult support and protection investigations were now carried out for all adults at risk of harm who required them. The quality of these investigations had significantly improved, with almost all rated as good or better. This was described by inspectors as โanother impressive improvement.โ
- Enhanced management of risk: The quality of chronologies (recording the order of events), risk assessments, and protection plans had greatly improved. Presence of risk assessments required further improvement, so that all adults at risk of harm had one.
- Effective case conferences: Case conferences were now clearly defined and held for all adults at risk of harm who required them. There were competent and well-executed, with almost all rated good or better for quality. The partnership was actively working to support people to participate in their own case conferences.
- Strategic leadership: The partnership had rigorously implemented its improvement plan following the 2022 inspection and taken forward a range of notable improvement focused activities.
- Strengthen governance: Robust measures were in place to identify concerns early and promptly implement remedial action. Operational managers worked diligently and effectively to bring about necessary improvements to adult support and protection.
- Multi-agency self-evaluation: The partnership had achieved significant progress and its cohesive programme of multi-agency audits and quality assurance activities was successful. Frontline staff were involved in informing the improvement work.
โAdult Support and Protection is a multi-agency responsibility undertaken by Health & Social Care Moray (Moray Council and NHS Grampian) and Police Scotland, overseen by the Moray Adult Protection Committee and Chief Officer Group.
Jim Lyon, Interim Chief Social Work Officer for Moray, said: โThe findings endorse the hard work of those involved in the review process and the frontline staff who have taken the improvements forward in their day-to-day practice.
โThe scale of improvement is remarkable and a result of the passion and unwavering commitment of those driving forward the Adult Support and Protection Improvement Plan. Moreover, it is good news for the people of Moray who experience the need for support.
โAs always with inspections and progress reviews, there are areas requiring further attention including developing our risk assessments and greater involvement of the adults at the centre of adult support and protection. This work will be taken forward diligently within our improvement plan.โ
The full report of the Moray progress review is published on the Care Inspectorate website and available here.
