Gateshead Safeguarding Adults Annual Report 2022/23

Safeguarding adults headline performance

A summary of the headline performance information is provided below.

Volume of concerns and enquiries

For a concern to progress to a Section 42 Enquiry it must meet the statutory criteria. The safeguarding duties apply to an adult who:

• has needs for care and support (whether the local authority is meeting any of those needs)
• is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect
• as a result of those care and support need is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect

In 2022/23 there were 1555 safeguarding adult concerns which led to 498 Section 42 safeguarding enquiries. This demonstrates a reduction in the number of concerns from the previous year. The number of Section 42 enquires remains at a consistent level.

In percentage terms, 32% of Concerns led to a Section 42 enquiry. The number of concerns progressing to an enquiry is lower than the 2020/21 North East (42.5%) and slightly higher than the England (30.6%) averages.

Categories of abuse

Utilising a count of completed Section 42 enquiries, and allowing for multiple recording of abuse, the most common category of abuse in Gateshead continues to be neglect and acts of omission which represented 39.4%. This was followed by physical abuse (17.3%) and financial and material abuse (12%).

The percentage of financial and material abuse cases has increased by 4.5% from the 7.5% in 2021/22. This information has prompted the QLP sub-group to prepare to undertake a case file audit to understanding the reasons behind this increase.

Age

In Gateshead, 32% of concerns were raised for adults aged 18 to 64. This is large increase from 2021/22 when this was 19.9%. The introduction of the Adult Concern Decision Making Tool may have had an impact on this figure as this has been widely used within residential and nursing homes.

Percentage of concerns by age

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)

For the period April 2022 to March 2023 Gateshead Council received 2246 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard applications. This was a slight decrease in activity from the previous financial year (2351). The demands placed on local authorities in meeting statutory obligations remains high.

The highest rate for DoLS applications remains with those over the age of 65. Within Gateshead this represents 1992 applications (88.7% of all applications) for those aged under 65 and 254 (11.3%) for those under 65.

There were 384 applications which have not been authorised, due to various standard reasons. The primary reason for non-authorisation of a DoLS was down to a 'change in circumstances', which took place in 257 cases.

Provider concerns

The number of provider concerns reduced to 237 in 2022/23 from 456 in 2021/22, with medication remaining the highest reason at 21.3%. Staff issues remain high at 19.5% and this is consistent with the information around difficulty in recruiting staff in the health and social care sector. Residential and nursing care remain the highest type of concern at 47.7% but this is decreased from 54.4% in 2021/22.

The information could also be representative of the implementation of the Adult Concern Decision Making Tool this is being widely used within residential and nursing homes.