A review of 25 adult protection partnerships in Scotland has found that many adults at risk of harm are safer and have enhanced wellbeing due to the joint efforts of social work, police and health staff.
The Care Inspectorate and its scrutiny partners, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, undertook reviews of these partnerships between 2020 and 2023. This report, published today, summarises the findings, themes and key messages from the joint inspection programme, Alongside the joint inspection report published in 2018 they provide a baseline of how effectively partnerships ensure adults at risk of harm are safe, supported, and protected.
Generally, partnerships carried out joint adult support and protection work competently and effectively with social work overseeing this as the lead agency. Social workers, police officers, and health professionals largely worked diligently and collaboratively to deliver better outcomes for adults at risk of harm.
Areas for improvement were identified in a number of partnerships similar to the 2018 findings. Preparation of clear chronologies for adults at risk of harm was the most common, followed by improved risk assessments. Areas of weakness were also found in a number of strategic leadership teams. In addition, almost all partnerships need to do more to ensure the lived experience of adults at risk of harm was properly represented.
All partnerships prepared an improvement plan after publication of their joint inspection of adult support and protection report. These plans will drive improvements to adult support and protection across Scotland.
The Scottish Government have further commissioned the Care Inspectorate and its scrutiny partners, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, to begin the second phase of scrutiny, learning and support to adult support and protection improvement, which will commence in August 2023 and finish in July 2025.
Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: "In the first half of the second phase we will revisit partnerships we previously inspected in 2017 -18, to determine their progress. We will work with the national implementation group to design and implement an adult support and protection quality improvement framework. This aligns with the approach in children’s services and provides a legacy that will bring a more consistent approach to multi-agency protection activity.
"In the second half, we will work collaboratively with adult support and protection lead officers to review improvement plan progress including those partnership areas with weak progress statements. We will also use our quality improvement framework to support planned partnership self-evaluation activity, with a focus on trauma informed practice."
Ann Gow, Deputy Chief Executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: "This overview report summarises our findings and identifies themes and key messages from our joint inspection programme. It’s clear that many adults at risk of harm are safer and have enhanced wellbeing since the introduction of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act in 2008. Social workers, health professionals and police officers are working together to identify adults at risk of harm, keep them safe and support them to realise better outcomes. The report also highlights that there are challenges still to be addressed. Our work over the next 24 months will include reviewing the progress of improvement plans as part of our shared commitment to ensuring the care and support provided to adults at risk of harm across Scotland is as good as it can be."
Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, said: "The collaborative approach between Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Care Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary is well established and has been recognised as delivering quality inspections to partnerships who deliver Adult Support and Protection Services. We are committed to working together over the next two years to improve the outcomes for adults who needs support and protection and to ensure that their voices are heard by the organisations that deliver services for them."
The full report can be read here.
Notes to editors
Link to joint inspection report published in 2018.
Link to interim report published in May 2022.